Storm take down Mystics to earn 1st win of season
SEATTLE – Jewell Loyd heated up and the Seattle Storm knocked out their first win of the season, 84-75 on Sunday afternoon against the Washington Mystics.
Both teams were winless through two games. Host Washington gave Seattle (1-2) time to get rolling. Though the Storm only managed four points in the first five minutes, they only trailed by three.
Then came a 9-0 Seattle run with an even more welcome development. The Storm went up 39-24 largely thanks to Loyd, who racked up 10 consecutive points in a span of about two minutes. She led the Storm with 13 first-half points.
The Mystics ended the half on a 10-0 run, however, trimming the Storm’s 15-point lead to five.
Loyd, the WNBA’s leading scorer a season ago, got off to a cool start in back-to-back losses against the Minnesota Lynx to start this season. Loyd still finished with 20 points on Friday before fouling out for the first time in her career during the first overtime.
On Sunday, she looked to be shaking off the early struggles and took over stretches of the contest, to the tune of a game-high 24 points, plus four rebounds and two assists.
“It obviously feels great when you’re hitting shots,” Loyd said. “I was just trying to get into a rhythm.
“All of us, we were able to take what the defense was giving us. We fought through a lot of physicality today.”
Seattle’s Noelle Quinn reached 50 career coaching victories Sunday, moving out of a tie with predecessor Dan Hughes for third most in franchise history. Quinn pointed to physicality as well, as something that could have been throwing off Loyd on drives and in the paint.
“For the majority of the game, she was making good reads,” Quinn said. “Toward the end of the game, her aggressiveness to the rim and playing off of two feet, playing more balanced, was very efficient.”
Loyd made 12 of 14 free throws Sunday, and 22 of 25 through two games this weekend.
The Mystics led by as many as five points in the third quarter and looked ready to pull away in the fourth before Victoria Vivians’ deep three — her first as a member of the Storm and Seattle’s fifth of the game — halted their progress.
“Tori’s going to help us,” Quinn said. “The confidence is going to come. She had good defensive moments.”
Skylar Diggins-Smith gave the Storm a five-point lead with 6:18 to play. Diggins-Smith was then the one to formally put it away, making the score 82-73 with a minute and a half left.
Ezi Magbegor (15 points, 14 rebounds) added the last flourish with a flashy block, one of two for her against the Mystics.
“Tori’s going to help us,” Quinn said. “The confidence is going to come. She had good defensive moments.”
Skylar Diggins-Smith gave the Storm a five-point lead with 6:18 to play. Diggins-Smith was then the one to formally put it away, making the score 82-73 with a minute and a half left.
Ezi Magbegor (15 points, 14 rebounds) added the last flourish with a flashy block, one of two for her against the Mystics.
Ogwumike tallied a team-high 24 points and added 11 rebounds on Friday at Minnesota, following up a 20-point, nine-rebound performance in the season opener on Tuesday.
Friday’s double-overtime game gave the Storm extra time to record 20 steals, a franchise record. They managed 10 against the Mystics.
The matchup Monday against old friend Breanna Stewart and the Liberty will close out a three-game road trip.
Game 3 was full of positive signs.
“It’s not quite there yet,” Quinn said of the Storm offense. “But by no means am I discouraged by that. We’re all new, we’re getting to learn each other and it will be better.
“And we’re still going to get Jewell in some rhythm and I thought she found some rhythm today, especially getting to the free-throw line. So it’s a work in progress.”