Storm upend Sun to win in overtime

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — A day after not playing well, the Seattle Storm rebounded in a big way on Sunday. Camille Little scored five of her game-high 27 points in overtime and added nine rebounds and Seattle beat the Connecticut Sun 89-83. It was the sixth win in seven games for the Storm (7-8). Seattle shot 32.2 percent in a 77-59 loss to the New York Liberty on Saturday. “It got our attention,” Storm coach Brian Agler said. “We had a good win at Washington (72-55 on June 24). We were on a good stretch. We go to New York. We sit in a hotel for three days. Everybody is telling us how good we were playing now, and we go in there and lay an egg. “We had quite a few conversations between last night and today. … We talked more about ourselves and what we have to get corrected and how that’s not us. (The) Seattle Storm, we compete. We’re champions.” Tina Thompson had 20 points, seven rebounds and four blocks for Seattle on Sunday. Sue Bird added 11 points, eight assists and five rebounds, and reserve Ewelina Kobryn had 13 points. The Storm played without starting center Ann Wauters (strained calf). “We were so disappointed in (Saturday’s) game,” Little said. “We didn’t play our best, even close to our best basketball. We all individually and collectively decided to play better.” Asjha Jones had 15 points and 11 rebounds for Connecticut (10-4) and Kara Lawson scored a team-high 22. Tina Charles had 13 points and 14 rebounds. “They were just playing me really hard,” Charles said. “They had a lot of double teams. They clogged the paint. It was tough.” Charles has shot 32 percent in Connecticut’s past four games. She’s averaged 11.5 points during that stretch. “She is getting double-teamed a lot,” Sun coach Mike Thibault said. “She has missed some shots that she normally makes. I thought early in the game (Sunday), she settled for some jump shots. I thought that she had a matchup where she could attack inside.” The Sun shot 35.2 percent against Seattle. “Basically, we just got outplayed,” Thibault said. “They’re three post players scored 60 of their 89 points. We didn’t shoot it well, but credit their defense. “I thought we were a step behind in some areas defensively tonight and it cost us.” Katie Smith made a contested 3-pointer from the right corner with less than three minutes left in overtime to give Seattle a 79-78 lead. Little made the second of two free throws to extend the Storm’s lead. Bird followed with an open 3-pointer to push her team ahead 83-78 with 1:52 left. Lawson made three free throws for the Sun to cut their deficit to two. On Seattle’s next possession, Little had a putback off a missed Thompson 3-pointer to give Seattle an 85-81 edge. Allison Hightower (16 points, four assists) made two free throws for Connecticut with 48.3 seconds remaining. Moments later, Little drove for a layup. Both teams had a chance to win in regulation. Bird missed two free throws with 13.6 seconds left. Jones and Charles each missed shots on the other end as the game went into overtime. Lawson made a 3-pointer with under three minutes left in regulation to give Connecticut a 74-71 lead. Less than a minute later, Thompson got wide-open and made a 3-pointer to tie it.