SEATTLE (AP) -Sue Bird had 14 points and seven assists to lead a balanced offense as the Seattle Storm beat the Washington Mystics 64-49 on Sunday night.
Lauren Jackson scored 13 points, Sheryl Swoopes 11, Swin Cash 10 and Yolanda Griffith nine to help Seattle (9-7) move into third place in the Western Conference, one-half game behind second-place San Antonio (9-6).
``That's our offense - equal opportunity,'' Bird said. ``We've talked about that all year, to get the ball in the right place at the right time.''
Alana Beard scored 16 points, but was just was 6-for-17 from the field for Washington. The Mystics had won four of five, including three straight on the road.
Seattle improved to 8-1 at home. The Mystics' 49 points were a season low. They scored 52 in a loss to San Antonio on June 6.
``To keep them under 50 is pretty impressive, especially when you look at the great scorers they have on their team,'' Bird said. ``They're a team that hits the boards pretty hard and we outrebounded (30-28) them.''
The Mystics cut a 13-deficit to seven in the third quarter. But Jackson hit a 3-pointer from the right corner to give the Storm a 47-37 lead to end the period.
``We never got a rhythm offensively or defensively,'' Washington coach Tree Rollins said. ``We knew they played well at home and had a tough loss against Los Angeles, so we knew they'd be coming out burning.''
Bird had nine points and three assists in the first half to help the Storm lead by as many as 14 points. Bird shot 6-for-10 from the field, and made two 3-pointers.
``We really want her to be aggressive,'' Seattle coach Brian Agler said of Bird. ``She's doing that. I like it when the ball is in her hands. I don't like it when the ball is floating around. When she's assertive, we have a chance to be pretty good.''
The Storm led 35-24 at halftime.
The Storm bounced back from a 76-62 loss at Los Angeles on Tuesday, their fourth loss in five games.
Monique Currie had four points for the Mystics after averaging 20 points per game in the previous three games. She shot 1-for-8 from the field. Currie had 24 points in a 77-74 overtime win at Los Angeles on Thursday.
``There's no excuse to have a win the way that we had in Los Angeles, when we were clicking on all cylinders, and then come here and play the way that we did,'' Beard said.
The Storm forced four shot-clock violations. Seattle leads the league this year with 19 forced shot-clock violations.
``Those shot-clock violations - you can credit their defense,'' Rollins said. ``But we never got in a rhythm. I kept shuffling the lineup trying to find somebody to get going, but we just couldn't get it going.''
