By Wyatt Yearout
The Seattle Storm took down the Indiana Fever by a final margin of 94-79 to secure its best road record in franchise history with 12 wins and improve its overall mark to 23-7.
Natasha Howard posted a team-high 19 points and eight rebounds to lead the way for the Storm.
Breanna Stewart notched her seventh double-double of the season with 17 points and 12 rebounds.
Sue Bird tallied 16 points and eight assists while also logging 22 minutes to become the league’s all-time leader in career minutes, passing Tina Thompson (16,088).
Seattle knocked down 37 field goals (51.4 percent) on 27 assists as a team on the game.
DEFINING MOMENTS
After being down as many as seven points in the first, Seattle put together an 20-4 run in the second to help put the Storm back on top and take a 51-44 lead into halftime.
Seattle kept its foot on the gas pedal in the third period, scoring 25 points in the period and extending its lead to 18 at one point in the quarter.
The Fever went on a run early in the fourth and trimmed the lead to 11, however Seattle answered with a 5-0 run of its own to put the lead back at a comfortable level and ultimately lead to the victory.
HUGHES’ TAKE
Head Coach Dan Hughes said the way his team shared the ball was key in the Storm’s victory.
“We played a lot of people today on a back to back, and [the ball movement] allowed us to score in different ways. I thought the ball movement was key, our ability for us to get strong bench play on a back to back, and Natasha Howard’s movement within our offense was just excellent.”
NOTES
- With the win tonight, Seattle (23-7) kept its three-game lead over Atlanta (19-10) for first place in the WNBA standings. Four regular season games remain for the Storm.
- Tonight’s victory gives Seattle its 23rd win of the season, marking the second-most wins in franchise history. The Storm won 22 games in 2008, while the team’s 28 wins in 2010 ranks first all-time in franchise history.
- Guard Bird recorded eight assists. She now has 207 assists on the season, needing 14 to match her career-best (221) for a single season and 29 to match the all-time record (236) held by Ticha Penicheiro. To catch Penicherio, she would need to average 7.2 assists down the stretch.
- With 17 points tonight, Stewart now needs to average 15.2 PPG over Seattle’s remaining five regular-season games to match the franchise’s single-season scoring record, currently held by Lauren Jackson (739 points, 2007).
- Howard matched her career-high for assists tonight, dishing out four.
UP NEXT
The Storm returns to action on Thursday against the Washington Mystics at Capitol One Arena, with a tip-off set for 8:30 a.m./PT.