Bird, Storm coast past Silver Stars

Sue Bird scored 20 points and the Seattle Storm used a dominating first half to coast to a 76-52 victory over the visiting San Antonio Silver Stars.

Bird hadn’t scored more than nine points in any of her previous five games but she helped the Storm snap a two-game losing streak. Seattle led 43-20 at halftime.

Lauren Jackson added 20 points, and Sheri Sam had 11 points and 10 rebounds for Seattle. The Storm (9-4) lead the Western Conference by a half-game over Los Angeles.

Adrienne Goodson led San Antonio with 10 points but the Silver Stars shot only 29 percent in the first half and 35 percent for the game. Leading scorer Marie Ferdinand managed just six points.

Seattle played without second-leading scorer Betty Lennox, who had surgery after breaking her nose last week against Houston.

The Storm, the highest-scoring team in the WNBA, jumped to a 14-2 lead and was never threatened. Seattle broke the 70-point barrier for only the third time in seven games.

San Antonio led only once, at 2-0. The Silver Stars trimmed the lead to single-digits once during the first half at 17-8, but Seattle scored 18 of the next 25 points to build the lead to 20.

Monarchs 73, Liberty 47: At Sacramento, Calif., Tangela Smith scored 17 points to lead the Monarchs to a rout over slumping New York.

The Monarchs (6-7) have won three straight and now will head out on a five-game road trip that begins Saturday in Seattle. The Liberty, who have lost eight of nine since a 6-1 start, will host Sacramento on Tuesday.

The Monarchs scored 14 straight points in the first half and held New York scoreless for over nine minutes in taking a 24-8 lead.

Becky Hammon made a 3-pointer to end the Liberty drought, but New York (7-9) made only two field goals in the final 14:34 and trailed 32-13 at halftime. It was the Liberty’s lowest scoring first half in team history.

Mystics 69, Fever 64: At Washington, Chamique Holdsclaw had 25 points and five rebounds, leading the Mystics to a victory over Indiana.

Muriel Page scored a season-high 11 points and hit back-to-back jumpers with 2:51 remaining to give the Mystics a 60-56 lead.

Rookie Alana Beard added a jumper from the corner and a free throw in the final minute to help secure the victory. Page punctuated the win by drawing a charge on Tamika Catchings with 37 seconds left.

Mercury 71, Sting 59: At Charlotte, N.C., Diana Taurasi had a career-high 29 points and made six 3-pointers to lead Phoenix to a victory over the Sting.

Taurasi was 6 of 7 from 3-point range.