Storm swept away by Aces in opening round of WNBA playoffs

They erased the first quarter 16-point deficit that threatened to doom them early.

And for the second straight game in the playoffs, the Storm had a one-point lead early in the fourth quarter and were poised to upset the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces, which would have pushed the best-of-three first-round series to a winner-take-all game in Seattle.

On Sunday, the Storm admittedly ran out of gas in the final minutes of a season-defining loss.

But on Tuesday, Seattle fought to the end before falling 83-76 in Game 2 in front of a sellout crowd at Michelob ULTRA Arena.

Once again, coach Noelle Quinn leaned heavily on her starters — Jordan Horston and Mercedes Russell were the only reserves who played — and the Storm stars were at times brilliant, but it wasn’t enough to topple their nemesis.

Las Vegas is 17-4 against Seattle in the past four years.

Gabby Williams did a little of everything while tallying a career-playoff-high 20 points, five rebounds and three assists. Nneka Ogwumike recovered from a slow offensive start and finished with 16 points, eight rebounds and four steals.

Meanwhile, Skylar Diggins-Smith added 13 points and nine rebounds while Ezi Magbegor had 12 points and seven rebounds.

Ahead 65-64 — the exact score as Sunday — with 7:58 left, the Storm fell behind on the next possession and never regained the lead.

After missing all 12 of their field goals and tallying just two points in the fourth quarter during Sunday’s loss, the Storm fell behind 23-7 early in the first quarter.

The Aces built a double-digit lead while taking target practice behind arc. Former Washington Huskies star Kelsey Plum and Cheslea Gray connected on two three-pointers and A’ja Wilson drilled one from long range.

The Storm countered with Magbegor, who returned following a four-game layoff due to a concussion, and proved to be invaluable while scoring 10 points and accounting for half of their first-quarter scoring.

Seattle, which trailed 30-20, used a 22-10 run to chip away at their 16-point deficit and pull within 33-29 after a couple of Ogwumike free throws midway in the second quarter.

Minutes later, Loyd drained an open three-pointer and Magbegor sank a short jumper that cut Las Vegas’ lead to 39-38 with 2½ minutes left in the first half.

However, the Aces closed the quarter with six straight points to go into the break ahead 45-38.

Diggins-Smith tied it at 47-47 with a three-pointer from the top of the key at the 6:44 mark in the third quarter.

Seattle, which outscored Las Vegas 18-15 in the second quarter, outpaced the Aces 19-17 in the third to trail 62-57 at the start of the fourth.

On Sunday, the Aces outscored the Storm 14-2 in the fourth and this time they outscored Seattle 21-19.

Plum, who had two points on Sunday, finished with a game-high 29 points, while Wilson had 24 and Gray 12.

No. 5 seed Las Vegas plays No. 1 New York in the WNBA semifinals, which is a rematch of last year’s Finals.

Sooner than they expected, the Storm begins offseason plans.

After stumbling to a next-to-last finish at 11-29 in 2023, Seattle became just the fifth WNBA team to make a 14-game improvement and finished fifth in the standings at 25-15 — the third most wins in franchise history.

Loyd, Diggins-Smith and Magbegor have guaranteed contracts next season while (second-year forward Jordan Horston) and rookie Nika Mühl are under binding, non-guaranteed contracts.

Ogwumike, Williams, Russell, Sami Whitcomb, Victoria Vivians and Joyner Holmes are unrestricted free agents.

The Storm are expected to have $712,377 in salary cap space in the offseason.

Currently, Seattle has the No. 9, 21, 29 and 34 picks in next year’s WNBA draft, although the official draft order has not been determined and the Storm are likely to move down a spot once the expansion Golden State Valkyries are included.