Langhorne lifts Storm over winless Shock
SEATTLE (AP) Crystal Langhorne scored a season-high 23 points and helped the Seattle Storm beat Tulsa 62-60 on Sunday, keeping the Shock winless on the season.
Sue Bird and Tanisha Wright added 11 points apiece for Seattle (2-5), which snapped a two-game losing streak in its first home game since a season-opening loss to Los Angeles.
Langhorne, in her first season with the Storm after a trade from Washington, shot 11 of 15 from the field. She scored 21 in a loss at Atlanta on Friday.
''I'm just trying to play and fit in and kind of let things come to me,'' Langhorne said. ''It was a little rough just because we had some losses but hopefully we continue to pick things up and get better as a team.''
Bird said she's getting much more comfortable playing with Langhorne, who entered the game shooting 65 percent from the field.
''We're getting there, Crystal and myself,'' Bird said. ''When you have a player like her, whatever she's shooting now, like 70 percent, you just want to feed her. She's playing great and hopefully we can continue to develop that chemistry.''
Seattle coach Brian Agler certainly appreciates Langhorne's contributions.
''Obviously, Crystal is starting to have a presence out there,'' Agler said. ''She's tough to defend.''
Glory Johnson scored a season-high 21 points and had nine rebounds to lead Tulsa (0-5), the only winless team in the WNBA.
Skylar Diggins scored on a drive to cut the lead to 62-60 with 33 seconds left after Bird had missed a 3-pointer. Camille Little missed a shot with 13.9 seconds left that Langhorne rebounded only to have Diggins steal the ball.
Tulsa called timeout to set up a play for Diggins, but Little tied her up for a jump ball with 5.1 seconds left. Little won the jump, Bird grabbed the loose ball and ran out the clock.
''She (Little) gets switched off on Skylar and gets her tied up going to the rim in a one-on-one situation,'' Agler said about how Little contributes even she scores just two points. ''It was the ballgame.''
It was another tough loss to Tulsa, whose first three losses came by a total of eight points before it lost 100-78 to Phoenix on Friday.
''We just need to continue to work hard,'' Shock coach Fred Williams said. ''It's better being in close games than blowouts. I think this team is really learning over the course of the season. We're a team that when we step on the floor, we want to be competitive for 40 minutes and I think we're establishing that right now.''
Seattle opened the season with a home loss to Los Angeles before losing four of five road games. The Storm return to the road for five of the next six games, starting with Phoenix on Tuesday.