Sports stats



WNBA Seattle Storm

Storm Eclipses Sun 71-64 to Earn Key Road Win

September 4, 2024 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Seattle Storm News Release


UNCASVILLE, Conn. - It wasn't officially a playoff game. It's not quite that time yet.

But for the Seattle Storm, it had that kind of feel against that kind of an opponent - and they went out and won it ...

... on the road.

Skylar Diggins-Smith scored 10 of her 18 points during the fourth quarter, the last two on a pair of clinching free throws with four seconds left, and the Storm led for almost the entire second half on Tuesday night to beat the Connecticut Sun, 71-64.

The outcome gave Seattle (20-13) a split of the two-game set inside Mohegan Sun Arena, bouncing back from Sunday's 93-86 loss. The Storm is still battling Las Vegas for the No. 4 playoff spot, which comes with home court advantage for games 1 and 2 of the best-of-3 first-round series.

Jewell Loyd added 17 points, six of those on back-to-back 3-pointers during Seattle's 10-0 run to finish the first half. Nneka Ogwumike had 14 before fouling out with 59 seconds left, and Gabby Williams tallied a season-high 11, her first double-digit game since rejoining the Storm in late August.

The Sun (24-9), who own the league's second-best record and are trying to stay within striking distance of the league-leading New York Liberty, broke out to leads of 8-0 and 18-6 in the first quarter. But Seattle finished that period on a 7-0 run and was right back in it at 18-13.

Connecticut still had a 31-24 advantage with the clock winding down toward halftime. That's when the Storm put together one of their most timely scoring outbursts of the season.

Ogwumike started it with a jumper off a feed from Williams with 2:10 on the clock. Ogwumike then came up with a steal, got it ahead to Mercedes Russell, who found Diggins-Smith for a lay-in at 1:43 to make it 31-28.

Loyd buried a 3-point bomb off a feed from Williams at the 1:10 mark to produce the game's first tie at 31-31. That lasted for all of 26 seconds before Loyd drained another dagger for a 34-31 edge at 44.3 seconds, and that's what the Storm took into the locker room.

Except for third-quarter ties at 40-40 and 46-46, Seattle was in front the rest of the way. They finished the third quarter on a 9-2 run with baskets from Diggins-Smith, Loyd, Ogwumike, and Jordan Horston, and a free throw from Loyd to go up 55-48.

Diggins-Smith scored Seattle's first six points of the fourth quarter to help produce a 61-51 margin. Connecticut got as close as three at 63-60 with 3:18 left. But as is often the case, the Storm returned from a timeout and scored immediately, this one courtesy of a short jumper by Diggins-Smith.

From there, it was never below a two-possession lead. The Sun's last chance to get back in went awry on a missed 3-pointer by Tyasha Harris at 26.7 seconds. Seattle's final points came at the foul line, more than enough to offset a DeWanna Bonner 3-pointer.

BY THE NUMBERS

- The Storm shot 46.8% for the day (29-of-62), and four of the five starters hit 50% or better: 7-of-12 for Ogwumike, 5-of-8 for Williams, 7-of-14 for Diggins-Smith, and 2-of-4 for Ezi Magbegor.

- Seattle's defense limited Connecticut to 41.4% shooting (24-of-58) as the Sun scored 64 points or fewer for just the fourth time since 2019. Its 41.4% shooting was 13 percentage points lower than the Sun's 54.2% on Sunday.

- The Storm had a 31-30 edge on the boards, with six each for Williams and Ogwumike.

- Williams had five of Seattle's 22 assists. That's the 19th time in 33 games with 20-plus and the second straight contest at Mohegan Sun with 22.

- Mercedes Russell was key off the bench, finishing with a game-high +21 despite having just two points and three rebounds.

- Horston had three of the Storm's eight blocked shots.

- Ogwumike's 14 points give her 513 for the season. It is her third year in a row with 500-plus and the seventh of her career.

- Bonner finished with 26 points for Connecticut. Brionna Jones, who had 26 on Sunday, added 21.

UP NEXT

The Storm wraps up the three-game road trip with a visit to New York on Thursday. Tip-off is at 4:00 p.m. Pacific time (Fox 13 / Prime Video Washington).

-- StormBasketball.com --

Check out the Seattle Storm Statistics

• Discuss this story on the Women's National Basketball Association message board...

Women's National Basketball Association Stories from September 4, 2024


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central