Storm Can’t Hold On To Strong Lead, Fall To Sparks In Crucial Late Season Contest
By Jess Amato, edited by Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - As the calendar turned over to the month of September and the very final times of the WNBA regular season schedule, our Seattle Storm hosted the Los Angeles Sparks for their last head-to-head meeting in the regular season. Their last matchup was a close one with the Sparks coming out on top down in LA, while the meeting prior to that saw the Storm fall in double overtime at Climate Pledge Arena. This contest was critical for both teams, as a win for Seattle would’ve helped them in the last few games of the regular season to improve their postseason seeding and LA is still fighting for their playoff lives. With a game in the balance that would’ve helped their own seeding and essentially ended their opponents hopes, our Storm crumbled in the second half to fall, 91-85, to the Sparks in front of a sold out crowd.
“I mean, I think that there were obviously some lapses in focus. That led to different types of plays that didn’t end the way we wanted to. I don’t think that we played with the amount of discipline and energy that we did to start the game, so they ended up finishing it better than how they started, and we weren’t able to match that.”
Pregame frames ahead of the Seattle Storm’s loss to the LA Sparks at Climate Pledge Arena on September 2nd, 2025. (Photos by Liz Wolter for Circling Seattle Sports)
There are some good things of note that came out of this game with several players hitting milestones. Nneka Ogwumike notched another personal best this year with 98 single-season career assists. That wasn’t all for assists though, as point guard Skylar Diggins became the first player in Storm history to record 500 assists. Finally, Seattle forward Gabby Williams recorded her 95th steal to become the holder of the title for third-highest steals total in a single WNBA season.
The first quarter was a close one with both teams performing strong out the gate. LA forward Dearica Hamby kicked off scoring for the two teams with a bucket in the paint, but Nneka Ogwumike answered back with a three. Both the Sparks and the Storm were answering back and forth, Seattle guard Tiffany Mitchell splashed a last second three to give the Storm a five point lead at the end of the initial frame.
The second quarter found the Storm getting into a strong groove, looking to assert themselves in this important contest. Rookie forward Dominique Malonga kicked off scoring for the Storm but Ogwumike had a huge three to get the team really amped up, keeping her strong start shooting from beyond the arc going. This was followed by a three by center Ezi Magbegor, with Diggins contributing some free throws as well. By the 3:30 mark left in the first half, Seattle had a lead of 13 points. The Storm went on to make three more three-pointers, two by Magbegor and one by Diggins as the two teams headed into the final seconds with Seattle continuing the barrage from deep. With ten seconds left on the clock, Gabby Williams took a shot but it bounced off the rim, allowing Magbegor to get the rebound in the form of a tipped ball to Erica Wheeler. With yet another three-pointer in this first half, Wheeler helped the Storm grow their confidence needed ahead of the halftime break. The second quarter ended with the Storm scoring ten total threes in the first half, and the score favoring the home team 50-39, a Seattle lead of eleven points over this LA team that’s made an impressive push in the second half of the season.
Favorite in-game frames from the Seattle Storm’s loss to the LA Sparks at Climate Pledge Arena on September 2nd, 2025. (Photos by Liz Wolter for Circling Seattle Sports)
The first two and a half minutes into the second half were rough for the Storm; they only scored two points and had two fouls against them, coughing the ball up with two turnovers. Several missed shoots and fouls began to turn the tide in this game, as the Sparks used these mistakes to catch up to the Storm, cutting the lead at the end of the third to just eight points. The law of averages was bringing Seattle down to Earth after their impressive first half shooting the ball, and the Storm wasn’t able to find a way to respond as the momentum pendulum began to swing out of their favor.
“They went zone, we saw it. We were taking some some tough ones, especially in the 4th... the looks that we got, the ones that were hitting in our first half didn’t hit in the second half.”
It was in the fourth quarter where the Storm really fell apart and this became a game that belongs in the “frustrating losses” department of the 2025 season, a category that has far too many entries. It started off slow for both teams, with each recording several misses before Seattle guard Brittney Sykes finally scored in the paint almost two minutes into the quarter. The Storm tried to continue shooting their three-point shooting success from the first half, since that’s what found them great success in the first two frames, but the shots weren’t falling at the right pace. The Sparks were already gaining momentum on the home team with the missed shots, turnovers, and fouls piling up to cause further frustration for the Storm. Seattle needed to score from within the paint to try to maintain their lead, as points in the paint has been a strong trend for the Storm all season long, but LA was able to do that in their favor and they did so far too easily. Seattle could not make it happen in the end, and the Storm were handed their 20th loss of the season. With the win, the Sparks keep their postseason hopes alive and could potentially overtake Seattle for the 8th and final playoff seed in the WNBA. The Storm can end up anywhere from 6th-8th place in the postseason seeding but they still have two critical games ahead of them to close out this season.
“I think we relaxed, in a way. I think we relaxed in a way. We could have done better at just doing what was working. In the second half we figured out how to kind of get stops, play in transition and then get the ball moving. The ball was kind of sticking a little bit more in the second half.”
Seattle will get to play these upcoming contests at home, but it appears that their inconsistencies and inability to finish games out regularly is going to hurt this 2025 Storm team in the long run.
“Teams are fighting for their lives. Teams are fighting for home court advantage, for their spots in the playoffs. You have to be able to digest things and then move forward, see how you can get the next one. We did a good job of that for the most part the last couple of weeks. There’s only two games left, so there’s no option but to win both of them and to focus on the rest tomorrow, then having New York up next.”
Fourth quarter frames as the LA Sparks used a big push late to upset the Seattle Storm at Climate Pledge Arena on September 2nd, 2025. (Photos by Liz Wolter for Circling Seattle Sports)
Quick Storm notes, from Storm PR
12,500 was the announced attendance at Climate Pledge Arena for this WNBA regular season contest between the LA Sparks and our Seattle Storm.
This is a sellout.
Seattle outscored the Sparks 11-0 in fast-break points before halftime. This marks the fourth time this season Seattle outscored an opponent by more than 10 fast-break points in the first half, while no other team has done so more than twice in 2025.
The Storm finished with 20 points off 18 Sparks turnovers. Seattle scored at least 18 points off turnovers with nine or more steals in each of the team’s four matchups with Los Angeles this season.
Seattle’s 11 made three-pointers in the first half marked the team’s season high for threes made in a first half.
This marked the seventh time that Skylar Diggins and Nneka Ogwumike scored at least 20 points each in the same game, tying Lauren Jackson and Betty Lennox for the third-most such games by a teammate duo in franchise history.
Storm forward Nneka Ogwumike paced the Storm with 21 points and made her first five three-point attempts to tie her career high for threes made in a single half.
Ogwumike became the third player in WNBA history to make at least 300 field goals in a single season and passed Angel McCoughtry for the sixth-most 20-point scoring performances in WNBA history (146).
Ogwumike tied her season high with three steals and added four assists to set her career high for assists in a single season (98).
This marked Ogwumike’s fifth consecutive game with multiple three-pointers, the longest such streak of her career.
Storm point guard Skylar Diggins finished with 21 points on 50% (8-for-16) shooting from the field and 50% (3-for-6) from deep, including her 100th made three in a Storm uniform.
Diggins added a steal and six assists to pass Sue Bird for the fastest player in franchise history to record 500 assists (81 games).
Storm center Ezi Magbegor scored 11 points with five rebounds and a season-high six assists. Magbegor shot 80% (4-for-5) from the field and 100% (2-for-2) from deep as she made her 800th career field goal and moved into seventh on the Storm’s all-time scoring list with 1,987 points.
She also blocked three shots to become the first player in franchise history, and the fifth in WNBA history, to record at least 90 blocks in a single season.
Storm forward Gabby Williams added eight points with three boards, including her 750th career rebound.
Williams picked up two steals to extend her franchise record to 96 steals and pass Tamika Catchings for sole possession of the third-highest steals total in WNBA single-season history.
Storm forward Dominique Malonga led the Storm reserves with eight points on 75% (3-for-4) shooting from the field while picking up two blocks and a steal.
Malonga became the first player in WNBA history to score 300 points before turning 20 years old, and she recorded a block for the seventh consecutive game to tie the longest blocks streak by a rookie this season.
This marked Malonga’s eighth game with multiple blocks this season, which is the most by any player off the bench.
What’s Next?
Our Seattle Storm will host the New York Liberty on Friday, September 5th with a tipoff time of 7PM PDT that will be broadcast live on ION. This game is truly make or break for the Storm, as after this loss, they’ve dropped to eighth place in the standings. If they want to make it to the postseason, they will need to pull out consecutive wins to end the year because the Sparks have games in hand over Seattle and the season series in their favor.
The Storm are playing at home for their final two games and they need to take advantage of their home court. They will also have four days of rest between this game and Friday’s contest against the Liberty. Seattle must use these days between games to rest and reset as they try to dethrone the defending champs. It truly is make or break time for the Storm.
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