Houston fans who saw the game knew why Lauren Jackson was benched during the final 16 minutes of a 67-71 loss to the Comets at Toyota Center on Tuesday. "The play that sends her to the bench," one wrote, "was when she was alone under the Comets and Snow comes in from the right..and grabs the rebound. She played with no effort.."

Sue Bird couldn't say why Jackson was benched, but said she could sense it. "I had a clue, but you never know, stuff happens," Bird said. "Anne was upset and she [Lauren] was at the end of the bench. It's not like I had a clue she wasn't going to play the whole rest of the game, but once she didn't come in after a couple minutes, it was like, all right, let's try to win this."

Some Seattle fans, however, weren't sure why Jackson was benched. Coach Anne Donovan had no comment for the press after the game and a tearful Lauren Jackson said, "I honestly have no idea why".

Donovan isn't talking, saying "We're moving on." Seattle, however, can read between the lines in this morning's Post-Intelligencer. In his column entitled, 'Donovan Hopes Benching Sparks Jackson', Mark Bergin writes 'Her absence was self-inflicted'.

The Storm face San Antonio tonight in the final game of a disastrous West Coast road trip that has seen them drop three straight to conference rivals and fall from second to fifth place in the standings.