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WNBA Seattle Storm

Storm Season Comes to an End with 83-76 Loss in Vegas

September 25, 2024 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Seattle Storm News Release


LAS VEGAS - The Seattle Storm gave themselves a chance - plenty of chances, in fact.

The Las Vegas Aces gave themselves just a few more.

Gabby Williams scored 20 points, Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins-Smith both double-doubled. But the Storm, after wiping out an early 16-point deficit and taking the lead in the fourth quarter, ultimately were not able to keep Las Vegas from completing a sweep of their WNBA first-round playoff series on Tuesday, falling 83-76.

The two-time-defending champion and No. 4-seeded Aces won the best-of-3 set, 2-0, with both games on their home court in Michelob Ultra Arena.

Ogwumike finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Diggins-Smith had 13 point plus 10 assists.

Ezi Magbegor, after missing the final three regular-season games plus Sunday's playoff opener in concussion protocol, was back in action and in the starting lineup. She finished with 14 points, but missed nearly 8½ minutes bridging the third and fourth quarters with four fouls.

Kelsey Plum poured in 29 points for Las Vegas, draining 11 of 13. A'ja Wilson double-doubled with 24 points and 13 rebounds.

Those two were instrumental in digging the Storm into a 23-7 hole just 4 minutes, 45 seconds into the game. Plum had 10 of those points and Wilson put in seven. On Sunday, Plum managed just two points for the whole game and Wilson had only four during the first half before finishing with 21.

But by the early moments of the fourth quarter, the Storm were down just 64-57. They then ran off eight in a row for what would be their first - and only - lead of the game. Ogwumike started it with a 3-pointer, and Williams followed with a traditional three-point play.

Then just as the clock ticked under 8:00, Mercedes Russell put back a missed jumper by Williams, and Seattle was on top, 65-64.

The teams then traded scoring runs. The Aces put up six in a row for a 71-65 advantage; the Storm followed with five straight, capped by Ogwumike's fall-away eight-footer that bounced in. She was fouled and hit the ensuing free throw, cutting it to 71-70 with 5:20 still on the clock.

Jackie Young then delivered somewhat of a gut punch on the Aces' next possession. Seattle forced Chelsea Gray into missing a short jumper, but Wilson secured the offensive rebound. She found Young beyond the 3-point arc on the right side of the lane, and Young swished it through for a 74-70 lead.

"I think rebounding hurt us," head coach Noelle Quinn said. (The Aces had a 45-30 advantage, 10-7 at the offensive end.) "A couple of those possessions, we were able to get a stop. But they got one or two offensive rebounds, and those are kind of deflating."

Las Vegas tacked on the next four points as well, and the Storm never came closer than six.

"I think that has kind of been our identity all season: We find ourselves in those challenging pockets and we do what we can to gain some level of control or tempo of the game," Ogwumike said. "I think how we finished tonight, we fought. No matter what, it's going to be a learning experience ... You have to respect that, especially every single possession down to the wire."

The Storm shook off their slow start and were down just 10 the end of the first quarter, 30-20, even though the Aces wound up shooting 12-of-18 through those opening 10 minutes.

"Our starts have kind of been our Achilles heel since the break," Quinn said, "and as you can see, you can't spot a team like that 30 points."

Seattle got within four at 33-29 near the midpoint of the second quarter, then the Aces stretched it back out to 10 at 39-29. But the Storm answered with 9-0 run on a 10-footer by Jordan Horston, a 20-footer from the right of the lane by Ogwumike, a 3-pointer from the right corner by Jewell Loyd, and a lay-in by Magbegor.

Just like that, it was down to a one-point difference at 39-38 before Las Vegas tallied the final six points of the half for a 45-38 lead at the break.

Seattle finally tied it up twice during the third quarter: 47-47 on a 3-pointer at the 6:45 mark and 49-49 on a pair of Jewell Loyd free throws at 6:14.

"It takes all 40 minutes, and it takes everyone wanting to be on the court together," Williams said. "I think we had some disconnect tonight. Some things like we weren't flowing on defense, and on offense, I think we were just a little bit disconnected. ... There was just some disconnection that we had tonight. Vegas, you can feel that they're very attached."

BY THE NUMBERS

- The Storm shot just 38.7 percent for the game (29-of-75). The Aces, after their 66.7 percent first quarter (12-of-18) cooled down some, but still finished at 47 percent (31-of-66).

- Seattle committed just five turnovers. Diggins-Smith, for handling the ball as much as she did during her 35:34 of playing time, had just one - giving her a 10-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.

- Making their 19th postseason appearance in the 25-year history of the team, the Storm have a 35-31 all-time playoff record.

- Ogwumike's double-double was her second straight. She had 16 points and 10 boards in Sunday's Game 1.

- Diggins-Smith 10 assists factored into 21 Storm points to go along with her 13. In the two games combined, she scored 29 of her own points and earned the assist on 39 more. That gave her a hand in 68 of Seattle's 143 series points (47.6 percent).

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