Storm enjoys a laugher in L.A.

LOS ANGELES — Tanisha Wright and Betty Lennox bounced around on the sideline with smiles beaming.

Even in a cheerleading role as their Storm teammates put the final touches on an 82-47 win against Los Angeles, the Seattle guards imitated absent All-Star Sue Bird to perfection.

"Sue runs this team, she's the quarterback," said Lennox, whose Storm posted a 2-1 record on its trip while Bird had left knee surgery. "But this is why you have people that are backups on this team, so we all can just pull together because you just never know what will happen."

The Storm (11-8) soundly defeated the Sparks twice before Tuesday's game. But each time Los Angeles has added different components in an effort to improve on its 7-12 record and make up for missing reigning MVP Lisa Leslie (maternity leave) and All-Star Chamique Holdsclaw (retirement). Their latest addition was former Storm center Tye'sha Fluker, who was cut by Seattle last week to make room for a reserve point guard to replace Bird.

Yet no matter who Los Angeles put on the court, Seattle smothered the Sparks, who shot 27.3 percent in the opening half and trailed 30-20 at halftime.

And even though the Sparks tripled-teamed All-Star Lauren Jackson from the opening tip — a change from the single coverage she saw in June — teammates Iziane Castro Marques and Lennox had the offense rolling. Castro Marques provided the scoring, shooting 3 for 4 from the field for nine points in the opening half while Lennox had three assists and five points.

"We know their personnel very well," said Castro Marques, who finished with a game-high 19 points and three steals. "We had that advantage. We didn't play too fast and we took away from them. That's the main thing when we play L.A., we know them so well that we play better defense."

The Sparks' point total was a franchise all-time low. And while Los Angeles was without its stars, the Storm continues to dominate the Sparks no matter who's on the floor.

The margin of defeat (35) was Los Angeles' worst at Staples Center, and the second-worst in franchise history. The Sparks lost 92-56 in Seattle on Aug. 6, 2003, when Jackson had 34 points and 13 rebounds.

Fluker saved her new team from an even more embarrassing low in front of 13,092 fans by making a reverse layin with 11.9 seconds remaining for the final score.

The afternoon game was Camp Day, and more than 10,000 kids helped bolster the crowd. When Fluker made the shot, a shrill sound came from the crowd. It sounded like the dying screech of a once-proud L.A. franchise that won WNBA championships in 2001 and 2002.

"We are in a bad place right now," said Sparks assistant coach Michael Abraham, whose club is on a team-record six-game losing streak. "We could use the excuse that we're missing key players and people are banged up. Eventually that wears thin every night."

Jackson couldn't get anything going inside for the second consecutive game. Her shots didn't start falling until the second half, when she scored 12 of her 18 points. Jackson also had a game-high 13 rebounds for her ninth double-double of the summer.

"I guess it's something the coaches are going to have to work on because I'm not getting shots under the basket at all," Jackson said. "I was getting mad and just throwing it up there and some of them went in. Izi obviously had a great game and we played unbelievable defense.

"We didn't know what to expect playing without Sue. Things are just feeling good and honestly when she comes back, she'll be stepping into a different team. Hopefully we just continue that with Sue being 100 percent better."

Jayda Evans: 206-464-2067 or jevans@seattletimes.com

Injuries: Storm — G Sue Bird (left knee) is out. Sun — none.

Jayda Evans