Jewell Loyd, Natasha Howard help Storm beat Wings 78-64, clinch No. 6 seed

ARLINGTON, Texas – Natasha Howard and Jewell Loyd combined to score 30 of their 38 points in the first half and the Seattle Storm beat the Dallas Wings 78-64 on Sunday, helping them clinch the No. 6 seed in playoffs.

The Storm, the defending champions, will host No. 7 seed Minnesota in a single-elimination first-round game on Wednesday. The Lynx lost at Los Angeles, and the Storm have the tiebreaker between the two teams.

Seattle has won three in a row overall, and four straight at home, against the Lynx.

Howard had 16 of her 22 points in the first half and and Loyd had 14 of her 16 before the break.

Seattle (18-16) shot 53.1% (17 of 32) from the field in the first half while limiting the Wings to 8-of-29 (28.6%) percent and forcing 10 Wings turnovers to take a 44-26 lead into the break.

Arike Ogunbowale led the Wings (10-24) with 25 points to finish the season with 630, the third-highest rookie scoring total in WNBA history.