CLEVELAND (AP) -- Nobody plays defense in the WNBA like the
Cleveland Rockers, whose suffocating, in-your-face style has made
them the league's stingiest squad.
Ann Wauters scored 15 points and Cleveland's defense shut down
Charlotte from the opening tip Saturday night and gave the Rockers
their sixth straight win, 56-41.
The Rockers' relentless defense forced the Sting into 24
turnovers, shut out Charlotte's leading scorer Andrea Stinson and
earned praise from their coach.
"Defensively, this is the type of game we want to put a stamp
on," Rockers coach Dan Hughes said. "We were able to establish a
tempo and set the tone. That looked like a lot of the defense I've
seen this year."
Cleveland leads the league in four defensive categories and
entered the game limiting opponents to just 55.4 points per game --
nearly six fewer than the next best team.
"They're a great team," Charlotte coach Anne Donovan said.
"They got out in the passing lanes and denied the ball. They made
us work harder than we wanted to work, which is the sign of a great
defensive team.
"There's a reason why they're the best defensive team in the
conference and they showed it tonight."
By improving to 11-0 at home this season, Cleveland (17-5)
extended its home winning streak to a WNBA-record 15 games and
opened a one-game lead over idle New York in the Eastern
Conference.
The Los Angeles Sparks entered their game against Seattle on
Saturday night with a 14-game home winning streak.
Mery Andrade added 13 points and Rushia Brown 11 for the
Rockers, whose league-leading defense helped them avenge an earlier
loss this season to Charlotte and gave the Sting (9-13) fits all
night.
Stinson was held without a point after missing all five of her
shots in 21 minutes.
Dawn Staley's nine points led the Sting, who scored just 12
points in the first half and finished shooting only 36 percent from
the floor.
"They kind of jumped on us," Stinson said. "We started out
with a lot of energy and they just took it away."
Wauters didn't score in the first meeting between the clubs, but
buried an 11-foot jumper the first time she touched the ball and
finished 6-of-8 from the field.
Wauters scored a career-high 19 points on Thursday night against
the Liberty and the 20-year-old again showed several nice moves
underneath as the Rockers exploited the Sting inside.
After a dismal first half, the Sting came out energized after
halftime and closed within 28-18 on Staley's two free throws with
17:50 remaining.
But the Rockers got two baskets from Wauters during a 9-0 run
and pushed their lead to 45-25 with 9:17 left on two free throws by
Brown.
Charlotte missed its first six field goal attempts, turned the
ball over five times and didn't score for the first 6:57 as the
Rockers built a 9-0 lead.
The Sting didn't get any easy looks at the basket as Cleveland's
defense made it difficult to get off a good pass, let alone a shot.
However, despite the fast start, Cleveland didn't capitalize and
only led 24-14 after shooting just 30 percent in the opening 20
minutes. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
|
|
ALSO SEE
WNBA Scoreboard
Charlotte team page
Cleveland team page
|
