Tulsa crushes Seattle 68-45

By Colin Davenport

The Tulsa Shock secured their first ever winning record, with an utter annihilation of the Seattle Storm on Tuesday, winning 68-45 in Tulsa.

The game started out as an evenly matched, uptempo affair, with Tulsa leading 5-4 in the early first quarter. The rest of the game, however, was a demonstration of how badly the young Seattle squad are capable of playing.

The Storm scored just seven points in the first quarter and followed it with only eight in the second period.The field goal percentage dropped below 10% before the first quarter ended. Seattle's shooting got so bad, that it seemed the team couldn't beg, borrow, steal or buy a basket.

#1 overall pick Jewell Loyd had a tough night, finishing with 2 points on 0-10 shooting from the floor, including missing four uncontested layups.

As a team, the Storm finished the game connecting on just 15 of their 63 shot attempts while making only four of their 24 attempts from behind the arc. The Storm also committed 18 turnovers and were out rebounded 47-35.

What made the lopsided defeat, even more confounding for the Storm, was the fact that Tulsa also played poorly. The Shock shot just 36% from the floor and, 26% from deep and 59% from the line while committing 13 turnovers of their own.

The only bright spots for Seattle came in the form of Ramu Tokashiki and a brief appearance from Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis. Tokashiki connected on 2-4 field goal attempts, and finished with with eight points, two rebounds and two blocks in 17 minutes of action.

Mosqueda-Lewis, who entered the game midway through the 3rd quarter, finished with seven points on 3-7 shooting in just under 15 minutes. She finished 1-4 from deep, including being blocked by Riquina Williams on her second attempt from behind the arc.

But, she demonstrated an improved speed coming off screens, and was able to score twice attacking the paint. It was a brief glimpse, at what Mosqueda-Lewis will be capable of in the years to come.

For Tulsa, the win marks the first time that the Shock have had a winning record since moving to Tulsa six years ago. Also of note was Skylar Diggins surpassing the 1,000 career point mark, becoming one of the fastest ever to do so.

However, the celebration by the Shock was stifled, somewhat, by the loss of Odyssey Sims in the 2nd quarter. She had an injury to her lower leg after being fouled on a drive.

Sims would be carried off the court, but insisted on being helped back to the free-throw line to shoot her free throw, with only seconds remaining in the first half. Sims would not return after intermission.

Seattle (1-1) next plays at Minnesota Thursday at 8 p.m. ET

Tulsa next plays at San Antonio at 5:30 p.m. ET