Ogwumike Beats Buzzer, Strom Tops Washington
WNBA Seattle Storm

Ogwumike Beats Buzzer, Strom Tops Washington

Published on August 24, 2025 under Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Seattle Storm News Release


WASHINGTON - Nneka Ogwumike hit a turnaround jump shot that dropped through at the buzzer to give her 30 points on Sunday, lifting the Seattle Storm past the Washington Mystics inside CareFirst Arena, 84-82.

That was Ogwumike's 11th field goal of the day on 15 attempts, which included a career-high six makes from behind the arc.

Rookie Dominique Malonga recorded her fourth double-double, this one with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Skylar Diggins, Gabby Williams and Brittney Sykes added 10 points apiece for the Storm. Diggins made it a double-double with 11 assists.

With the game tied at 79-79 during and back-and-forth final quarter, Sykes buried a three to give the Storm an 82-79 lead with 13.5 seconds remaining. The Mystics came back from a timeout and Sug Sutton put in a 3-pointer to tie it at 82-82 with 6.1 seconds to go.

The Storm called timeout to set up a final shot. Williams inbounded to Diggins who found Ogwumike, she turned and fired. Her shot slipped through as the horn sounded.

"Based on what we had been seeing leading up to that point, Noey (Head Coach Noelle Quinn) was talking about getting Sky downhill, and that's something that time and time again has worked for us," Ogwumike said. "But Sky told me when we came back out that she anticipated them switching if I slipped. So instead of actually setting the screen, she told me to slip. That's what we ended up doing, not only to get the shot off, but the last shot off."

Quinn was perfectly fine with Ogwumike and Diggins making that on-the-spot decision.

"To have the opportunity to be in position to help us win in that way, I have a full amount of trust and confidence in them," she said. "They're two of the best to have ever played in the W and our game in general. From the point guard to the post, they've seen a lot of games and played a lot of games. They feed off one another. For me, it's not over-coaching it and allow great players to be themselves."

Seattle has won the first three games of its five-game road trip.

"We've been in a lot of close games the last month. We've been executing in the big moments," Ogwumike said. "It's the smaller moments that I think we were able to string together today to be able to put a nail-biter into the win column. We had a lot of big plays, but also a lot of great defensive moments and attention-to-detail moments that kept us in the game and gave us an opportunity to be on top in a close game."

Sykes, in her return to D.C., had three rebounds, two steals, one assist and one block to go along with her 10 points.

"Ultimately coming back here, my end goal was just to win, however that may look," Sykes said. "I just had to do whatever it was. If it was guarding Soni (Citron), it was guarding Soni. If it was hitting a three, it was hitting a three. Whoever would have put that (winning) shot up, we would have had supreme trust in anyone to take that shot."

Williams had five steals, giving her 90 for the season. That moved her from a tie for No. 9 into a tie for No. 5 on the WNBA's all-time single-season steals list.

Shakira Austin pumped in a career-high 30 points for the Mystics.

UP NEXT: The Storm head to Indiana for a matchup against the Fever on Tuesday, August 26. Tipoff is at 4:00 pm PT and will be broadcast locally on KOMO and CW Seattle and available for streaming on CBS Sports Network. Prime Video users in Washington State will also be able to stream the game.

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Women's National Basketball Association Stories from August 24, 2025


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