Diggins leads Storm past lowly Sun in bounce-back win
By Christan Braswell, edited by Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - Losing to what was effectively a Caitlin Clark-less Indiana Fever squad wasn’t ideal, but the Seattle Storm bounced back with a win over the last-place Connecticut Sun, with a final score of 97-81.
Connecticut lost its eighth straight game, setting a new franchise record. They also lost three consecutive games by 15-plus points for the first time in franchise history.
“We wanted to have a better effort than we did on Tuesday,” said Diggins, pointing out that 94-86 loss to the Indiana Fever. “We wanted to put this team away early.”
The first quarter was all Diggins, who caught fire and scored ten points in the first five minutes. She went on to score or assist on seven of nine field goals made to give the Storm a 24-19 lead at the end of the period.
“The other thing is our rebounding. I think no matter who we’re playing, it’s going to always be a focus on top of the scout.”
Diggins led all scorers with 24 points, shooting 60% on twos (6-for-10) and 2-for-4 from deep. She also had five assists and a steal for the fourth straight game, matching the longest such streak in WNBA history. She’s the first player in league history to reach four consecutive games on multiple occasions.
Gabby Williams added 16 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, four steals, and one rejection. She led the team in rebounds, assists, and steals.
After shooting 35% from the field to start the game, the youth-laden Sun shot 60% on twos (6-for-10) in the second frame. Rookie Aneesah Morrow and sophomore guard Jacy Sheldon combined for 13 of the team’s 19 points.
Connecticut kept it close for most of the second quarter before Seattle utilized five made free throws as part of a 15-5 run to end the half up 52-38.
The Storm outpaced its 20.6 average point total in third quarters (6th in the WNBA) with 30. Storm forward led the way with 10, finishing with 16 points on 50% shooting. Ezi Magbegor added 12 points, five rebounds, and three assists.
After halftime, Seattle jumpstarted an 18-5 run with four three-pointers. Ogwumike netted another, giving the team a 70-43 lead with 5:02 left in the third.
The Sun outscored the Storm 26-15 in the fourth quarter, but that’s because the team’s starters played 9 minutes combined while Ogwumike and Magbegor didn’t see the court to close the game.
Quick Storm notes
The Storm matched the team’s season high for free throws made with 20.
Six different players recorded at least four rebounds for the Storm, marking Seattle’s most players with four or more rebounds in a single game this season.
Each of the nine Storm players to enter the game scored at least one point and recorded at least one assist.
This marked Seattle’s fifth game with at least 25 assists this season, the second-most in the league.
Skylar Diggins led the Storm with 24 points on 57.1% (8-for-14) shooting from the field and 50% (2-for-4) shooting from deep as she moved into 24th on the WNBA’s all-time scoring list.
She dished out five assists, including her 353rd with the Storm to pass Sami Whitcomb for eighth on the franchise’s all-time assists list. Diggins has scored at least 20 points with five assists and a steal in four consecutive games, matching the longest such streak in WNBA history.
Diggins is the first player in league history to have four-game streak multiple times, as she previously did so in 2021 with Phoenix.
Diggins accounted for the Storm’s first 16 points in the opening quarter as she dropped 10 points with three assists.
Gabby Williams finished with 16 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and four steals, becoming the first player in franchise history to record such a stat line in a single game.
This marks Williams’s fifth game with at least four steals this season, tying the Storm franchise record for games with four steals in a single season. Williams leads the WNBA with 12 multi-steal games in 2025 and paces the league in steals average.
Reigning Western Conference Player of the Week Nneka Ogwumike recorded 16 points on 50% (5-for-10) shooting from the field and 50% (2-for-4) from deep. Ogwumike knocked down all four of her free-throw attempts and grabbed four rebounds with a block.
Ezi Magbegor posted 12 points on 83.3% (5-for-6) shooting from the field, including 100% (5-for-5) from inside the arc.
This marked Magbegor’s 92nd career double-digit scoring game, passing Betty Lennox for the ninth-most such games in franchise history.
Magbegor added five rebounds, three assists, and a steal to go with a pair of blocks in just 20 minutes of action.
Dominique Malonga scored a career-high 11 points for the first double-digit scoring game of her career, becoming the second-youngest player in WNBA history, and youngest since 1998, to score at least 10 points in a game.
She also matched her career high with five rebounds and knocked down a career-high three free throws while adding an assist and a blocked shot.
Zia Cooke added nine points for her highest-scoring game in a Storm uniform. Cooke knocked down a season-high four field goals and dished out a pair of assists in a season-high 24 minutes.
Erica Wheeler scored six points and knocked down two three-pointers for her fifth consecutive game with at least one made three.
Wheeler added six assists and five rebounds in addition to two steals, including the 300th of her career.
Mackenzie Holmes made her regular season debut at Climate Pledge Arena and recorded the first points of her career as she shot 100% (1-for-1) from the field and added one rebound to go along with an assist and a block, both the first of her WNBA career.
What’s next?
Following this blowout victory of the Connecticut Sun to close out a three-game homestand and help secure their tenth win on the season, our Seattle Storm have a somewhat quick turnaround to begin a four-game road trip when they get back in action on Sunday, June 29th, 2025. That game is a 5:30PM pacific time start against the Golden State Valkyries, the newest franchise in the WNBA and the team that sits right below the Storm in the league standings, and will be broadcast live locally on the CW Seattle. In this Sunday evening contest against the Valkyries, the Storm will be seeking a revenge effort following a frustrating defeat in the first head-to-head matchup between the two West coast teams that saw Seattle record their lowest rebound total in a decade.
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