Sting 70, Storm 67

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — All the lectures about focusing on defense are paying off for the Charlotte Sting.

The Sting used several stops down the stretch and held the top offensive team in the WNBA below its scoring average in a 70-67 victory over the Seattle Storm on Thursday night.

”Seattle was the best offensive team, so we wanted to shorten the game and force them into a halfcourt game,” said Charlotte coach Trudi Lacey, who has made solid defense the focal point of her team. ”When we do that, we're pretty successful.”

Tynesha Lewis scored a career-high 19 points and Tammy Sutton-Brown had a big block in the final seconds to help Charlotte pull within one-half game of Eastern Conference-leading Connecticut.

”The East is so crowded, you can't lose a game or you might fall to last place,” Lewis said. ”That's why we had to have this game.”

Lauren Jackson, the reigning league MVP, scored 24 points for Seattle, but the Sting were satisfied with that.

”She scored 24, but she really worked for those,” said Charlotte's Allison Feaster.

Seattle averages 73.3 points a game, but struggled as Charlotte switched into a zone defense to confuse the Storm. Seattle has lost two straight since its four-game road winning streak was snapped with a loss at Washington on Wednesday.

”We would have liked to have split this back-to-back road trip, but we weren't able to,” Jackson said. ”Overall, we didn't play well. We had several chances to put the game away.”

Lewis, who finished 6-of-8 from the field, passed her previous best of 16 points with a three-point play late in the game. She scored on a baseline drive that drew a foul, then made the free throw for a 66-60 lead with 2:30 to go.

The Storm then got two free throws from Sue Bird, and after a Charlotte turnover, Jackson hit a 3 to cut it to 66-65.

Lewis missed a 3 for Charlotte and Kamila Vodichkova got the rebound to give Seattle a chance. The Storm inbounded the ball to Bird with 38 seconds to play, but her attempt at a driving layup was blocked by Sutton-Brown.

Charlotte's Dawn Staley was fouled and made one free throw. Jackson scrambled after the rebound, but knocked it out of bounds to give the Sting the ball back with a 67-65 lead and 19 seconds to play.

Charlotte Smith-Taylor added another free throw for Charlotte to make it 68-65. Vodichkova scored for Seattle, but Feaster made two free throws to seal Charlotte's win.

Feaster scored 19 points and Sutton-Brown added 16 for Charlotte.

Bird and Betty Lennox each added 13 points for Seattle.