Sophia Young shines as San Antonio Silver Stars edge out Tulsa Shock 88-79: WNBA Recap
On Saturday night San Antonio Silver Stars took on Tulsa Shock and paced by Sophia Young’s 20 points they made a dramatic recovery in the 2nd half to edge out a 88-79 win here at the Bok Center.
Young was on the song with a double-double; she scored 20 points and had 13 rebounds for Silver Stars. Guard Becky Hammon barely missed her double-double with 17 points and 9 assists while reserve Shameka Christon poured in 16
points. She stole the show with a 3-pointer at the death that decided the fate of the game.
San Antonio coach Dan Hughes lavished her with praise.
`I thought (Christon) stepped up big in the fourth quarter and in the last stretch.''
Tulsa maintained their lead in the 1st half, but their lead and confidence both started to dwindle in the second, especially in the fourth frame. Tulsa coach Gary Kloppenburg concurred to that post game.
`We have a young team and it's going to be a work in progress,'' Tulsa coach said. ``Our kids played extremely hard and gave themselves a chance to win. We just couldn't execute at both ends in the last 10 minutes.''
Shock had 4 players scoring in double figures. Temeka Johnson led all scorers with 21 points and 9 assists. Reserve Ivory Latta tallied 14 and Glory Johnson collected 11 points with 10 boards and guard Riquna Williams poured in
12 points.
Tulsa opened the game with a 9-0 burst and stretched it down to 13-5 midway through the frame. Silver Stars came back with a 15-4 run to change hands at 20-17 lead, however Shock capped off the segment with 5 unanswered points
and a 22-20 lead.
With 04:39 left in the 2nd frame, the scores were tied at 32 each when Shock pulled off a 10-4 burst, claiming a 42-36 advantage. As the teams headed towards the locker rooms Tulsa were up with 42-38.
The game remained closely contested in the third and with 5:49 in hand Silver Stars managed to tie the scores at 51 apiece. Tulsa created some breathing space 59-55 with an 8-4 run. But, heading into the decisive frame San Antonio
pushed the game once more into a stalemate with scores tied at 62 each.
The game remained closely contested in the decisive frame as with 1:37 to expire the scores were tied at 79 apiece. But after fighting resiliently throughout the game Tulsa went ice cold in the dying moments. That allowed Silver
Stars to bag the game with a 9-nothing spurt, final scores 88-79.
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