Abrosimova scores 20 as WNBA-best Storm beats league-worst Shock 111-65

Abrosimova scores 20 as Storm beats Shock 111-65

SEATTLE — Reserve Svetlana Abrosimova scored 20 points, and Swin Cash added 18 to lead the Seattle Storm to a 111-65 victory over the Tulsa Shock on Saturday night, the biggest rout in WNBA history.

In a game matching the teams with the league’s best and worst records, Seattle’s 46-point victory topped by one point a win by the Houston Comets over Washington in 1998.

“We played the best team and they just spanked us,” said Shock coach Nolan Richardson. “It was the worst spanking we’ve had to tell you the truth.”

Lauren Jackson added 12 points and 10 rebounds for Seattle (24-4), which won its second straight game after two consecutive losses. The Storm improved to 15-0 at home.

“Everyone played well, all the girls got to really play and it was fun to watch,” Jackson said.

Ivory Latta had 14 points to lead Tulsa (5-24), which has lost nine of 10 and 21 of 23.

Seattle, which lost 84-75 at Tulsa on Tuesday, led 60-27 at halftime of the rematch.

“We did what we were supposed to do after a team beats you on their home floor, we came back,” Cash said. “I told the team at the beginning of the game to put our foot on the gas and don’t take it off for 40 minutes.”

Jackson went to the bench with 5:13 remaining in the third quarter and didn’t return because of the lopsided score. All five Seattle starters sat out the fourth quarter.

Ten players scored in the first half to help give the Storm grab their big lead, one point short of the team record of 61 set against Phoenix in 2007. Seattle led by as many as 36 in the opening half.

Seattle shot 20 of 35 (57 percent), including five 3-pointers, from the field in the first half and made 15 of 16 free throws. The Shock shot 10 of 32 (20 percent).

“There’s not much you can say when you get beat by (nearly) 50,” said Shock forward Nicole Ohlde. “They came out with a ton of energy to begin with and they had a great crowd. We just got ourselves in a hole and it just kept getting worse and worse.”

The Storm had 13-point runs to start and end the first quarter and led 28-9. Cash scored 10 points and Tanisha Wright added six.

On Jackson’s bobblehead night, the Storm gave her a bracelet with 10 rubies, 10 emeralds, and 10 diamonds in a pregame ceremony to mark her decade with Seattle.