By Wyatt Yearout
The Seattle Storm dropped the final matchup of its two-game road trip against the Minnesota Lynx, 91-79, falling to 10-5 on the season.
Breanna Stewart put in 27 points and six rebounds for the Storm in the losing effort.
Maya Moore led the way for the Lynx with 32 points. Sylvia Fowles added 32 points and 17 rebounds.
DEFINING MOMENTS
A strong first half from Moore (16 points) Fowles (12 points) led to Minnesota taking a nine-point lead after the first two quarters at 43-34. The Lynx limited Seattle to 34.7 percent shooting for the first half and held every Storm player to five points or less except Stewart who had 16 at the break.
Although Seattle’s shooting improved, Minnesota kept its foot on the gas pedal in the second half led by Moore, at one point stretching its lead to 21 points. The Storm bench unit made a late push to cut the lead to just 10 points at 87-77 with under two minutes left, but the lead proved to be too much as Minnesota went on to defeat Seattle by 12.
HUGHES’ TAKE
Despite struggling early on offense and a 60 combined points from Moore and Fowles, head coach Dan Hughes felt the game really came down to rebounding.
“Rebounding was a real issue in this game, and I thought their second-chance points and the way they controlled the tempo dictated (the game) because they rebounded so well.”
NOTES
- Stewart, who entered tonight’s game leading the WNBA in scoring with 21.9 points per game, finished with 27 points, her 11th 20+ game in 2018. She was a perfect 3-for-3 from downtown for the first time this season.
- Natasha Howard, who received her 2017 WNBA Championship ring pregame tonight from the Minnesota Lynx, her previous team, posted 6 points and 3 rebounds in her first game back at the Target Center.
- Courtney Paris finished with 8 rebounds, one shy of her season-high (9 at LVA, 5/27/18).
- Storm forward Alysha Clark returned from her left ankle injury tonight. After sitting out the last 3 games, Clark came off the bench tonight and logged 13 minutes of play.
- Sue Bird finished with 9 assists, recording her 10th game in 2018 with 5 or more dimes.
- Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis notched her fourth-straight start, and finished with 12 points, her fourth double-figure scoring effort in 2018.
- Jordin Canada finished with a career-high 13 points, shooting 4-for-9 from the floor. She also dished out 3 dimes.
UP NEXT
Seattle returns to KeyArena for its next matchup against the Los Angeles Sparks, with tip-off set for 6:30 p.m./PT on ESPN2.