Not much goes right for Storm as they lose franchise-record ninth consecutive game

SEATTLE – After a first-half sequence in which the Storm surrendered three offensive rebounds and an uncontested layup, Noelle Quinn turned away in disgust and walked toward the Seattle bench with her arms spread wide and a look of pain and anguish on her face.

The Storm coach repeatedly pleaded and prodded her team to keep the Sky out of the paint and off the glass. She practically emptied her bench and rotated a handful of players in the post.

But nothing worked.

The Sky tracked down seemingly every missed shot and withstood a third-quarter push before handing the Storm a 90-75 defeat and a franchise-record ninth straight loss.

Two statistics tell the story of Seattle’s latest setback.

Chicago outrebounded the Storm 44-24, including 20 on the offensive glass. Sky forward Alanna Smith did most of the damage and finished with a career-high 17 rebounds, including 13 offensive boards.

And the Sky effectively neutralized Jewell Loyd, who made 2 of 11 field goals and tallied a mere 12 points — 12 fewer than her WNBA-leading scoring average.

In her previous outing, Loyd had 12 points on 3-for-13 shooting.

Without Loyd’s offense, the Storm couldn’t keep pace with the Sky, which received a game-high 29 points from Kahleah Copper and 22 from Marina Mabrey.

The Storm (4-18) countered with a balanced offensive attack featuring Ezi Magbegor (14 points), Jordan Horston (12) and Sami Whitcomb (11).

Seattle believed its losing streak would end Saturday considering Chicago entered Climate Pledge Arena with four straight losses and still teetering after coach James Wade abruptly left the team three weeks ago.

“This will be a good matchup for us,” Whitcomb said.

Quinn noted her team’s similarities with the Sky, which lost WNBA All-Stars Candace Parker, Courtney Vandersloot and Emma Meesseman from last year’s team that finished 26-10 and advanced to the WNBA semifinals.

“The only difference I would point to is early in the season they had some tough wins that we didn’t,” Quinn said. “But as far as the makeup and how they’re playing, there’s a lot of similarities between us two.”

The Storm, which had been outscored in the first quarter by 5.5 points and 9.3 points during their previous eight defeats, trailed 24-10 late in the first.

Chicago outscored Seattle 25-18 in the second quarter and pushed its lead to 49-23 after Mabrey buried a three-pointer late in the period.

That’s when Whitcomb injected a little bit of life into the listless crowd of 8,655 with a pair of three-pointers in a dizzying five-second sequence that cut the Storm’s deficit to 49-32 at halftime.

Quinn tweaked the lineup at the break and started the second half with rookie forward Horston and Whitcomb alongside Loyd, Magbegor and Gabby Williams.

The Storm outscored the Sky 22-16 in the third quarter and cut their 23-point deficit to 63-54 late in the period.

But Seattle never got any closer and Chicago began the fourth quarter with a 9-2 run to regain control.

Next week the Storm embark on a three-game trip with stops in New York, Chicago and Indiana.