Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Seattle Falls By 20 To San Jose As Lasers Shut Down Starbird

Associated Press

ABL

Sherrie Sam scored 23 points and Charlotte Smith had 14 as the San Jose Lasers defeated the Seattle Reign 90-70 Wednesday night in the ABL opener for both teams.

Kedra Holland-Corn added 13 points and Jennifer Azzi, returning from a shoulder injury that forced her to miss most of the Lasers’ inaugural season, had 10 points and eight assists.

Azzi’s defense also helped shut down Kate Starbird, last year’s Naismith award winner as the top college player, and give San Jose coach Angela Beck a win in her debut.

Starbird, one of seven former Stanford players on both teams and the Reign’s top draft pick, was held to eight points on 3-for-11 shooting.

Joy Holmes and Shalonda Enis had 15 points apiece for the Reign. Val Whiting, who was traded by San Jose to Seattle, and Kate Paye each had 14.

The game was played before 10,809 fans at San Jose Arena. The Lasers played all their games last year at the smaller San Jose State Event Center.

The team will continue to play most of its games at the Event Center, though several more will be at the larger arena.

San Jose led 59-52 after three periods and pulled away by outscoring the Reign 31-18 in the fourth quarter. Smith, who had 13 rebounds, scored 10 of her points in the final period and Azzi added seven.

San Jose 90, Seattle 70

At San Jose, Calif.

Seattle (70) - Aycock 0-1 0-0 0, Whiting 5-7 4-6 14, Godby 1-1 1-1 3, Paye 5-9 2-3 14, Starbird 3-11 1-4 8, Enis 6-13 2-2 15, Orr 0-3 0-0 0, Hedgepeth 0-1 0-0 0, R.Smith 0-1 1-3 1, Holmes 6-12 3-5 15. Totals 26-59 14-24 70.

San Jose (90) - C.Smith 6-18 2-2 14, Sam 10-16 3-4 23, Kaplan 2-3 0-0 4, Azzi 2-4 5-6 10, Henning 3-5 1-3 7, Byrd 0-0 0-0 0, Gaither 3-7 3-4 9, Holland-Corn 5-11 0-2 13, Machanguana 1-4 0-3 2, Bradley 0-0 2-2 2, Sandie 3-4 0-0 6. Totals 35-72 16-26 90.

Seattle 19 15 18 18 - 70 San Jose 19 14 26 31 - 90 3-Point goals-Seattle 4-12 (Paye 2-5, Starbird 1-3, Enis 1-3, Orr 0-1), San Diego 4-5 (Holland-Corn 3-3, Azzi 1-2). Fouled out- None. Rebounds-Seattle 46 (Enis, Holmes 11), San Diego 47 (C.Smith 13). Assists-Seattle 12 (Paye 4), Los Angeles 18 (Azzi 8). Total fouls-Seattle 18, San Diego 22. Technical-HollandCorn. A-10,809.