Skip to main content

Shock beat Stars 95-90 behind 22 points from Paris

  • Author:
  • Publish date:

TULSA, Okla. (AP) Courtney Paris scored a career-high 22 points and the Tulsa Shock made three late free throws to beat the San Antonio Stars 95-90 Thursday.

Jennifer Lacy sank a pair of free throws with 33.7 seconds remaining and Roneeka Hodges added another with 13 seconds left to seal the win.

Glory Johnson added a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds to help the Shock (8-15) snap a five-game losing streak. Skylar Diggins had 19 points and Odyssey Sims scored 15. Lacy finished with 12.

Danielle Adams scored 17 points for San Antonio (11-12) and Sophia Young-Malcol had 16. Danielle Robinson and Kayla McBride scored 15 apiece.

Paris performed well before her former college coach at Oklahoma Sherri Coale, who traveled the turnpike from Norman to Tulsa.

''I saw them on the baseline and I knew I had to finish,'' said Paris, who shot 9 for 9 from the field with two blocks. ''It's always great to have the support of people around you. I had a great experience at the University of Oklahoma. So whenever those guys come out you have an incentive to play a little harder, a little better.''

Asked if having her former coach and assistants courtside made her nervous, Paris joked, ''No, because I know tomorrow she won't yell at me. Seriously, she congratulated the team on the win. It was nice to have her here.''

Tulsa trailed 45-38 at halftime but used a 26-8 run to take control of the game. The eight points by the Stars in the third period were the fewest by an opponent in one quarter at the BOK Center this season.

''We knew we had an advantage in the low post,'' Johnson said. ''Courtney does a great job and I try to feed her the ball in the high-low. She's powerful down there. We talk a lot about teams coming in and (averaging) 50 percent on us. It was a focus in the third quarter.''

The Stars made 11 3-pointers, including four in the final period. Adams and McBride did most of the damage, hitting a combined seven from beyond the arc.

But Lacy and Hodges made free throws in the final minute to secure the victory.

''I didn't care if we had a game the day before, we needed to get out there and play hard,'' said Tulsa coach Fred Williams. ''Our rotation was good. They shot some 3's and we were able to get some run-outs. We know we have to tighten up our defense in the second half of the season.''

Tulsa shot 50 percent for the game and outrebounded the Stars 32-25.

''The team really fed Glory and Paris and cleared out giving them room to operate,'' Williams said.