Storm fail to complete comeback, fall to Lynx, 82-77
By Christan Braswell, edited by Charles Hamaker
Minneapolis, MN - After scoring a season-high 34 first-quarter points against the Las Vegas Aces, our Seattle Storm dropped a season-low eleven points against the Minnesota Lynx in this road matchup. Despite a late rally in the second half, the Lynx remained undefeated, ultimately winning 82-77.
Minnesota dominated the opening frame with a 14-0 run to start. As one of the best defenses the Storm has faced all season, the Lynx proved it to be true, finishing the quarter with 13 points off seven turnovers and a 7-0 advantage in steals. The unrelenting pressure prevented Seattle from building any sort of momentum on the interior, going 4-for-12 on twos specifically. Minnesota star Napheesa Collier was a major catalyst to her team’s early success, generating five steals and two blocks alone. The Lynx ended the quarter up 26-11, and seemingly ready to hand the Storm an ugly defeat.
Seattle righted the ship in the second, outscoring the Lynx, 18-13. Matching the intensity that caught the team off guard to start played dividends on the defensive end and turning Minnesota over six times. Forward Gabby Williams scored seven points in the quarter, finishing with a team-high 20 points on 8-for-15 shooting. A timely three-pointer from Skylar Diggins ignited an 8-0 dash, bringing the Storm within seven with 1:24 left. At halftime, a three-pointer from Alanna Smith increased the lead to 10, 39-29.
Seattle outscored the Lynx 22-15 in the third quarter, narrowing the deficit to three after a crucial three-pointer from backup guard Erica Wheeler brought it to 54-51 at the end of it.
With less than five minutes left, Nneka Ogwumike connected on a layup, keeping Seattle within striking distance at 64-62. She finished with 11 points and eight rebounds. Diggins drilled a jumper with 27.7 seconds left in the game, cutting the Storm’s deficit to 76-73.
After playing the foul game with time winding down, Minnesota netted six straight free throws to stay perfect at 5-0.
Courtney Williams led all scorers with 23 points. The Storm kept All-Star Napheesa Collier in check for most of the game, adding 16 points on 7-for-18 shooting. Alanna Smith finished with 16, and Kayla McBride chipped in 15 in her season debut for the Lynx.
Quick Storm notes
Seattle’s 10 rebounds in the first quarter were the team’s most in an opening frame this season.
The Storm held the Lynx to 13 points in the second quarter, Minnesota's lowest-scoring quarter of the season and kept the Lynx from scoring a single fast break point in the second half.
The Storm secured a season-high 10 offensive rebounds.
Seattle recorded at least 20 assists for the fourth consecutive game, which is the team’s second-longest such streak since 2022.
Storm forward Gabby Williams led the team with 20 points and six assists on 53% (8-for-15) shooting from the field to go with four rebounds and two blocks, which tied her career high in blocks.
Williams also added a steal and now has at least one steal in 50 of her 63 regular season games with Seattle (79.4%), which is the highest rate of any player with at least 50 games played in a Storm uniform. With her 10th three-pointer in the last four games, Williams set her new high for threes made over a four-game span in her career.
Storm point guard Skylar Diggins finished with 18 points, three assists and three rebounds on 40% (2-for-5) shooting from deep.
Diggins added two steals, including the 400th takeaway of her career, to join Ticha Penicheiro and Sue Bird as the only players in WNBA history to reach 1,500 assists and 400 steals in under 300 games.
Storm forward Nneka Ogwumike posted 11 points and eight rebounds while grabbing two steals for the 190th time in her career, which is the sixth-most multi-steal games in WNBA history.
Storm center Ezi Magbegor recorded six points, 10 rebounds and three assists for her 25th game with double-digit rebounds, the third-most such games in franchise history.
Storm forward Dominique Malonga scored two points and recorded the first assist of her career while becoming the youngest player in WNBA history to record at least three assists and three rebounds in under 12 minutes.
What’s next?
Despite a loss, there were still things to celebrate in Seattle’s performance against the Lynx as mentioned in our takeaways here. Following tonight’s road defeat, our Seattle Storm will head back to Seattle and have a few days of recovery and practice before they begin a three-game homestand by hosting the Atlanta Dream on Friday, May 30th with a tipoff time of 7PM PDT at Climate Pledge Arena. That game will be broadcast live on ION, with tickets still available by clicking this link, as the Storm will look to get back on the winning track as an Atlanta side on a three-game winning streak comes into town seeking to ensure that stretch of strong play continues. If you’d like to be surrounded by fans of the Storm when you’re watching that game and won’t be joining us at Climate Pledge Arena, you can always head to the official home of Circling Seattle Sports: Rough & Tumble Pub! With more than enough televisions for ALL of the sports, local brews, great food, there isn't a better place to catch a game and R&T is an especially great place to watch any Storm game considering that it’s Seattle's home to women's sports!
Tonight, the Dream dispatched of the Los Angeles Sparks down in California by a final score of 88-82, and they’ll head up the West Coast looking to build off that win and that current winning streak they have going for them after a 1-2 start to the season. Given the defensive versatility and length that this Seattle roster possesses, it seems like they could have an advantage over an Atlanta team that will want to shoot from three-point range often, with another factor playing into this game being whether or not Brittney Griner will play as she missed tonight’s win over the Sparks with a left knee injury.
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Check out our previous articles written by Christan Braswell here, and follow Christan on Twitter.
Cover photo provided by the Seattle Storm
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