Sports stats



WNBA Seattle Storm

Storm Falls at Liberty, 77-70

September 5, 2024 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Seattle Storm News Release


NEW YORK - Only once on Thursday night did the Seattle Storm allow New York to put together an extended scoring run.

But once was enough for the WNBA-leading Liberty.

New York put 12 straight points on the board bridging the third and fourth quarters, building an 11-point lead, and went on to beat the Storm inside the Barclays Center, 77-70.

Skylar Diggins-Smith, who has taken her performance up several notches since the month-long break for the Olympics, continued that trend for the Storm (20-14). She pumped in 21 points and logged six assists, four rebounds, two blocks and two steals. It was her seventh 20-point game of the season.

Gabby Williams, coming off a season-high 11 points on Tuesday's 74-61 victory at Connecticut, came up even bigger on Thursday with 17 points on 8-of-13 shooting, plus five assists and four rebounds. Ezi Magbegor added 13 points and a team-leading seven boards.

The 12-0 burst for New York (28-6) was part of a larger 17-2 run that turned a 55-51 deficit at the 4:06 mark of the third quarter into a 68-57 lead with 8:41 left in the game. Chipping in five points of that was Breanna Stewart, who didn't hit her first field goal until the 44-second mark of the third quarter, but then went on to score 10 points in the fourth on the way to a final total of 14.

Betnijah Laney-Hamilton had seven of those points for the Liberty and wound up with 18.

Neither team ever had a double-digit advantage during the back-and-forth first half, which ended with New York up by just four at 40-36.

Tied at 48-48 midway through the third quarter, the Storm put together a 7-3 surge on a lay-in by Magbegor, a 3-pointer by Diggins-Smith, and a pair of free throws by Williams. The second of those free throws gave her 1,000 career points and gave Seattle the 55-51 lead.

But through the next 7:08 to finish that quarter and start the fourth, the only points for the Storm came off a driving lay-in by Jewell Loyd with 1:21 to go in the third.

The margin never got closer than five during the fourth quarter.

BY THE NUMBERS

- Diggins-Smith hit 4-of-7 from 3-point range. It marked her first game with three or more three-pointers since July 22, 2022, when she was with Phoenix and drained three against the Storm.

- As a team, the Storm were 6-of-20 behind the arc. But the Liberty were 12-of-27.

- Overall, Seattle shot 42.9% (30-of 70) and limited New York to 38.6% (27-of-70).

- Seattle grabbed 33 rebounds on Thursday. Last Friday at home against New York, it had just 17.

- Magbegor had four blocked shots, including the 250th of her career. She finished the game with 252. Just 23 days after turning 25 years old, she is the third-youngest player to reach 250 blocks.

- With her six assists, Diggins-Smith now has 216 for the season. She is now just five away from tying Sue Bird's single-season record of 221, set first in 2003 and matched in 2018.

UP NEXT

The Storm returns home to face Phoenix on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. (Fox 13+ / Prime Video Washington / NBA TV). Both teams are playoff-bound, as the Mercury clinched a spot on Wednesday night.

-- 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 5, 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