Seattle Falls to Washington, 69-58
July 26, 2025 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Seattle Storm News Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Nneka Ogwumike scored 18 points, but the Seattle Storm's fourth-quarter comeback ultimately fell short on Saturday as the Mystics took the 69-58 contest inside CareFirst Arena.
Erica Wheeler finished with 12 points, all in the second half, while moving into the top-25 on the WNBA's all-time assists list with her 1,206th career assist.
Seattle led for most of the first half, but Washington closed out the second quarter on a 19-6 scoring run to take a 40-35 lead into the break.
The Storm was down by 18 points inside the final minute of the third quarter when Wheeler beat the buzzer with a 28-foot 3-pointer, cutting the deficit to 60-45 entering the fourth.
Seattle then came up with 11 straight defensive stops through the first 5 minutes, 57 seconds of the fourth quarter and made it a four-point game with five minutes still on the clock, thanks to Wheeler, Dominique Malonga, Lexie Brown, Alysha Clark, and Tiffany Mitchell. Those five helped limit the Mystics to just nine points that period.
"That unit gave us what we needed in that moment," Head Coach Noelle Quinn said. "We just talked about kind of chipping away. I thought Dom gave us some great minutes, running the floor hard and rebounding well. Erica was the offense we needed within that group. I thought they fought hard to hold the Mystics to a nine-point quarter, and that was indicative of the defense picking up a little bit and getting stops.
"There was good energy. For them to be able to fight hard like they did, it was a great effort," Quinn added.
Despite the Storm's efforts, Washington held its lead until the final buzzer.
Ogwumike tallied 14 of her points during the first quarter, tying for the most by any Storm player in a quarter this season. She scored Seattle's first nine points of the game and had a hand in the first 16.
Skylar Diggins handed out four assists, her 65th straight game with three or more, passing Sue Bird for the longest such streak in franchise history and fourth-longest in WNBA history.
Seattle finished with 10 blocked shots, its second time this season with that many. Ezi Magbegor had four of those, and Malonga swatted two, along with her nine boards, eight points and two steals in just 14 minutes of play.
"In her minutes, she (Malonga) has been super-productive," Quinn said. "We're definitely looking toward having her continue doing the things she's doing at a high level to give us a lift from the bench."
Shakira Austin led Washington with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Rookie Sonia Citron also had a double-double of 11 points and 10 boards.
UP NEXT: Seattle finishes its three-game road series against the Connecticut Sun on Monday, July 28. Tipoff is at 4:00 pm PT and will be streamed on ESPN3, broadcast locally on CW Seattle and available for Prime Video users in Washington state.
Mark Moschetti
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