By Wyatt Yearout
Seattle’s comeback fell short in its 2018 season opener, as the Storm suffered an 87-82 setback to the Phoenix Mercury on Sunday night at KeyArena.
Breanna Stewart led the way for the Storm with 22 points and 15 rebounds, while Natasha Howard chipped in 14 points in 22 minutes off the bench.
Brittney Griner ended with 29 points and 10 rebounds for the Mercury.
DEFINING MOMENTS
The Mercury had a hot first quarter, getting the ball down low leading to a lot of easy buckets, especially for Griner, who took control on the offensive end using her length, scoring 10 points on 4-for-5 shooting in the opening period.
Although the Storm knocked down five three-pointers in the first quarter, it only could get a single two-point basket to fall and ended the quarter shooting 35 percent compared to the Mercury’s 55 percent.
Seattle’s shooting struggles led to a 14-point deficit at one point in the first quarter. The Storm managed to cut it to nine at the end of the period, but entered the locker room down 10 after shooting just 29 percent in the first half.
An 8-0 Storm run in the third quarter shrunk the lead to just three at 61-58 at the 7:36 mark.
Phoenix knocked down a couple big shots and went on a 7-0 run around the three-minute mark, giving the Mercury an eight-point advantage with under two minutes remaining at 80-72.
Seattle was able to answer with a run of its own, and a Howard jump shot cut the Mercury lead to just two points at 82-80 with 23.9 seconds remaining.
Briann January was fouled and split the pair with 17.5 seconds remaining, giving Seattle the ball down three.
Stewart opted for the quick two and connected on a lay-in with 11.5 remaining, putting the lead at one point, at 83-82.
Dianna Taurasi was fouled and hit both free throws with 9.8 seconds on the clock, giving the ball back to the Storm.
Stewart stepped out of bounds in the corner with 3.2 seconds left, giving the ball back to Phoenix, who put the game out of reach with a pair of free throws.
NOTES
- Seattle fell to 3-1 all-time in home openers against Phoenix. Prior to tonight, the Storm defeated the Mercury on 6/2/13 (75-72), 6/4/11 (78-71) and 5/31/01 (83-70).
- With her first basket of the game, a three-pointer at the 7:45 mark of the first quarter,Sue Bird moved past Becky Hammon to No. 8 all-time on the WNBA’s scoring list. She finished the game with 10 points and now has 5,850 for her career.
- Seattle had 28 points from its bench. Last season, the Storm amassed over 25 bench points just four times.
- In her Storm debut, Courtney Paris registered three points and six rebounds in 17 minutes of play.
- Rookie guard and No. 5 overall draft pick Jordin Canada posted nine points and four steals on 4-for-7 shooting.
- The Storm owned a 37-28 edge on the glass. Fifteen of those boards came from Stewart, two shy of tying her career high of 17 achieve on June 5, 2016 vs. New York. Last season, Seattle finished second to last in rebound average.
UP NEXT
Seattle will head to Phoenix on Wednesday with a chance for redemption, with tip-off set for 7 p.m./PT.