Top Storm Takeaways From Seattle’s Road Win Against the New York Liberty, July 6th, 2025
By Jess Amato, edited by Charles Hamaker
Brooklyn, NY - Our Seattle Storm travelled to Brooklyn to take on the reigning WNBA champions in the New York Liberty, continuing their four-game road trip to begin the month of July. The Storm already took on the Liberty once this season, defeating them 89-79 at home on June 22nd in a thrilling win that has only helped them solidify themselves as a contender in the league this season. Seattle repeated this earlier success, defeating the Liberty by a final score of 79-70. Here are a few top takeaways from this road win, as the Storm continue to get stronger throughout the course of the season.
Storm Had a Dominant Third Quarter
At half time, the game was a close one. Seattle was trailing the Liberty by three points, with a score of 41-44 at the end of the second quarter. Oregon alum Sabrina Ionescu dominated the court, recording 20 of the Liberty’s 44 points in the first half. Once the third quarter started, there was a huge momentum shift in favor of the Storm.
The third quarter began and Seattle hit the gas. Four minutes into the third quarter, the Storm had taken a 52-46 lead. Natasha Cloud’s two free throws were the only points New York scored in the beginning of the quarter. However, it was in the fourth minute that the tide really turned. Seattle forward Gabby Williams had an excellent defensive play on the Liberty, smacking the ball away from them. The ball went to Erica Wheeler and Williams took off, where Wheeler passed the ball to her, and Williams took the ball right up to the net to score an easy two points.
Although the Liberty broke their four minute scoreless streak, the Storm were already way ahead of them. Rookie forward Dominique Malonga scored two points at the buzzer to give the Storm an eleven-point lead over New York. That third quarter could ultimately be seen as the turning point in this game for Seattle, as that third quarter saw them outscore New York in that frame 22-6. Things had swayed back and forth in the first two quarters, with the Storm winning the first frame by six and then the Liberty winning the second by seven, but a 16-point differential in the third was huge for Seattle to pull away and get this road victory.
Dominique Malonga Was Stellar
Rookie forward Dominique Malonga subbed into the game in the third quarter and played ten minutes overall. However, those ten minutes were a huge difference maker for the Storm in their eventual win. Malonga recorded 11 points in that timeframe, tying her current game high in her rookie campaign. She also had eight rebounds, which gave her the highest tally in her career so far.
This is Malonga’s first season in the league after she was drafted by Seattle with the second overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft. This pick has clearly worked out for the Storm well, as Malonga is proving herself to be an incredibly versatile player with so much growth ahead of her. She plays with strength, pushing her way through to get a chance to shoot the ball. She is not afraid of whoever is in front of her, and she wants to make plays. Malonga’s progression as a player will be a joy to see as her potential remains through the roof, and it’s remarkable that she’s been able to make such an impact in her rookie season.
In the post game conference following this win, forwards Gabby Williams and Nneka Ogwumike spoke on Malonga’s play, reiterating that she is still learning. They are not saying this in a bad connotation by any means, as they then went on to say that Malonga takes everything they are saying into account and uses it in her play. They stated that Malonga was “not ready” in her last game, and her numbers prove it. She only played two minutes against the Atlanta Dream on July 3rd, recording just the one rebound. Malonga must have took Wiliiams’ and Ogwumike’s words to heart, changing her play style and making sure she was ready for this big time showdown against the Liberty. She stepped up to the occasion when they needed her to, and Dominique was part of the changing tide for the Storm overall in the third quarter. While some of the rookies taken after Malonga in this years draft have made “stronger” impacts on their teams success so far this season, Dominique’s potential is that of a player we haven’t seen the likes of in the league before. With her size, length, and scoring touch, Malonga can be one of the most dominant players in the WNBA once she adds more strength and gains more experience playing.
Seattle Got Some Even Scoring Throughout The Lineup
One of the issues that the Storm have faced so far this season is not getting production from their roster outside of Skylar Diggins, Gabby Williams, and Nneka Ogwumike. There have been games throughout the season for Seattle where they’ve gotten great performances from those three but not others, which is a problem considering that the Storm can’t have those three do everything for this team. Seattle didn’t have to worry about that in this contest, as five players tallied double digit scoring while those who didn’t reach that mark were still able to have valuable inputs in other stats through the box score. Four of the five Storm starters hit double digit marks and things were somewhat even in that regard as they all had a point total within three points at most of each other. That fifth player was the aforementioned Malonga, whose eleven point outing in just ten minutes represented one of two players from the five on the bench that got minutes for Seattle in this one. Alysha Clark poured in five points while also tallying five rebounds, two steals, and one block to help add a key defensive component to this game against a dangerous Liberty offense.
Malonga’s eleven points and eight rebounds, a nearly double-double in just her ten minutes of play, represent a strong performance that displays her potential and what she can bring to the Storm going forward. Erica Wheeler, who started the game at the two-guard position, poured in five points, three rebounds, three assists, and two steals as the veteran guard continues to find multiple ways to impact the game even if it isn’t through a high scoring input.
The Storm continue to show well when battling other contenders
Whenever a team is looking to contend in their respective league, how they match up against the other contenders in that league is always a strong test to potentially see how that team may perform in the postseason. If how the Storm have performed against contenders in the WNBA is any indication on how their postseason may go, Seattle fans should feel good about how their team may look in the fall. When playing the top four teams in the league standings so far, the Storm hold a 6-3 record in the nine games they’ve played those contenders so far this season. That mark includes a 2-0 record against the defending champion Liberty, and two strong games against last years runners up in the Minnesota Lynx who have suffered just two losses this year. These early season tests of the Storm’s mettle will be key to building their chemistry and giving them strong tests for the playoffs, as Seattle is likely to meet at least one of these teams down the road in a postseason setting.
Seattle’s record against the top four teams in the WNBA
New York Liberty: 2-0
Minnesota Lynx: 1-1
Atlanta Dream: 1-1
Phoenix Mercury: 2-1
What’s Next?
Following this big time road victory over the defending WNBA champions, our Seattle Storm will finish off their east coast road trip when they take on the Connecticut Sun on July 9th with an early morning start time. The Sun were just handed their 16th loss of the season at the hands of the Las Vegas Aces on July 6th. Although the Sun are the worst team in the league at the moment, this does not mean the Storm should put their guard down as any team in the league can win on any night. Seattle is currently riding a two game winning streak, having won ten of their last 12 games as they attempt to keep climbing the WNBA standings as they sit fifth in the league but are just a tiebreaker behind the Atlanta Dream for fourth.
That next game against the Connecticut Sun comes with a tipoff time of 8AM PDT, and will be broadcast live locally on CW Seattle. Connecticut has lost their last ten games coming into this contest, the first of two consecutive games against the Storm as they’ll meet again in Seattle on Friday, July 11th with a tipoff time of 7PM PDT at Climate Pledge Arena.
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