Seattle Storm’s Comeback Magic Ends in 78-64 Loss to Washington Mystics

By Teren Kowatsch

SEATTLE — Unlike it’s last two games, the Seattle Storm were unable to make a necessary first-quarter adjustments and the visiting Washington Mystics ran away in a 78-64 win Wednesday at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.

“I think (Washington’s) physicality disrupted as a little bit,” Seattle head coach Sonia Raman said after the loss Wednesday. “And I think there’s a few really good shots that we got as well that didn’t go down. … A few of those fall and I think we feel better about it.”

The Storm (3-5) wrapped up their four-game homestand 2-2 with the loss.

In Seattle’s last two wins, a 77-59 win against the Connecticut Sun on Friday and a 97-85 win against Washington on Sunday, It found itself down after an early run in the first quarter by the opposing team. In both wins, a timeout and subsequent adjustments led to the Storm going on runs before eventually coming out with the victory.

The Mystics had the run and the Storm called timeout down 18-9 with five minutes, 31 seconds left in the first quarter. However, Washington kept its pace and closed out the first 10-minute frame up 28-20.

Part of the Mystics’ success at keeping Seattle at bay was the staunch one-on-one defense from its point guards.

Whether it was Jade Melbourne or Natisha Hiedeman bringing the ball up the court, both were picked up by a defender, which took precious seconds off the clock and stopped the Storm from properly executing their plays.

“We knew they were going to come in and want to throw the first punch,” Melbourne said in a postgame interview Wednesday. “We allowed them to because we embarrassed them, to be honest with you, the other night. We need to do a better job of handling that. But, yeah, it obviously puts a toll (on us). They’re smothering us and now we’re starting our offense with 16 seconds on the shot clock rather than 19. On the back end, we have to go one-on-one and people have to create. We can definitely do a better job of not allowing the pressure to get us out of our rhythm.”

Seattle didn’t have any more success in the second half. Washington kept the clamps on and held the home team to just nine points to go into halftime with a 48-29 lead.

The Mystics finished the game with three players with double-digit points. Center Shakira Austin led the way with a team-high 18-point, 13-rebound double-double in addition to five assists and a block.

In the third quarter, it looked like whatever game plan the Storm had discussed in the interim period had worked.

Seattle opened the third quarter with an 8-0 run to cut its deficit to 48-37 with 7:43 left in the third. Melbourne had four of those points.

Melbourne was the only storm player to finish in double figures. She scored 15 on a 6-for-8 mark from the floor (3-for-4 from the free-throw line). She also had three assists, three rebounds and a steal.

Mackenzie Holmes had a near-double-double. She finished the game with eight points on 3-for-4 shooting (2-for-2 from 3-point range), 10 rebounds and two steals.

“Mac cares so much and really wants to do whatever it takes to help this team win,” Raman said. “She was one of the ones that obviously heard the message (to get more rebounds). Four offensive rebounds to finish the game with 10 total, talking on the floor, talking from the bench. Really being a presence as she always is. Really proud of her effort tonight.”

Seattle’s run was short-lived. Washington outscored the Storm 18-8 the rest of the way to bolster its lead to 66-45 going into the final 10 minutes. The Mystics lead by as much as 25 on Wednesday.

Seattle’s only quarter in which it outscored Washington was the fourth. The Storm put up 19 points to the Mystics’ 12, but the deficit was too large for it to get the Storm back in it and the visitors held on for the 14-point win.

Seattle didn’t lead at any point in Wednesday’s loss. The Storm shot 34.9% from the field and 21.9% from 3-point range compared to a 42.4% clip from the floor and 33.3% from beyond the arc for Washington.

“We won’t turn the page,” Raman said. “We’re never gonna turn the page on any game. We want to make sure that, win or lose, we learn and we grow. We’ll go back, we’ll watch film, we’ll process it and then make the adjustments that we need to make. Some of the things that happened today are things that we want to be better at going forward no matter who we play.”

Seattle will have two games on the road before returning home to Climate Pledge, with the first taking place against the Toronto Tempo at 10 a.m. PT on Saturday at Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.