Photo Credit: Vicente Cardenas/The Paisano

Jayne Appel scored nine points and collected 13 rebounds for the San Antonio Silver Stars while teammate Danielle Robinson led the team with 19 points and nine assists in a 69-65 win over the Tulsa Shock on Sunday night.

The Silver Stars have now won three straight home games dating back to July 20, and they are now at .500 at home this season.

It was Appel who would end up stealing the show. With the game tied at 55-all in the fourth quarter, Appel launched a 3-pointer with the shot clock running down and banked it in to give the Silver Stars a lead that they would not relinquish.

“It was one second on the shot clock and it had to get thrown up, so it was more luck than anything,” Appel said acknowledging her fortune.

Silver Stars head coach Dan Hughes also appreciated the successful timing of Appel’s shot.

“In a prayerful tone I said ‘Thank You’. I have seen them go the other way,” Hughes said. “I will tell you the truth about that. Jayne Appel the way she played was very inspiring today, so it was rightfully due that if someone gets a break and banks one in, then it was her.”

Luck or not, Appel and her teammates willed themselves to a victory even when they were down by 10 early in the third quarter. Down 43-33, the Silver Stars outscored the Shock 19-9 during the last eight minutes of the third quarter and tied it heading into the final period.

“I just thought we didn’t play what I would say was a consistently good game, but we were able to take their hits, come back, and find a rhythm to play and deliver a streak of our own,” Hughes said.

The Shock opened the game on a 5-0 run, but the Silver Stars answered with a 10-0 run of their own and looked sharp and aggressive during the run. Robinson scored eight points in the first quarter and Jia Perkins added seven of her 18 total points in the period to give the Silver Stars a 22-15 lead at the end of the first.

In the second quarter, the Shock found success with center Elizabeth Cambage as she scored 10 of her 16 points in the period. The Silver Stars were only able to tally 11 points as a team on 5-for-18 shooting in the quarter.

“It was a very physical game a very grind it out game,” Appel said. “We definitely needed every possession and every play to buckle down and look to one person to kind of get it going, and it’s been a different person every game.

The Silver Stars (7-13) continue their homestand with a Tuesday night game on August 6 against the Western Conference leading Minnesota Lynx (15-3), who recently defeated the Stars 85-63 last Friday, August 2. Tipoff is slated for 7 pm.