UNCANSVILLE, Conn.–After strong run in the fourth quarter to take the lead, the Storm watched Connecticut rally back behind former Storm guard Shekinna Stricklen as she scored the final five points in the 67-66 loss on Friday night.

It is the Storm’s third straight loss with two of them coming by single digits.

“I thought we battled well. Connecticut hit some big shots and they made more plays down the stretch than we did.,” Storm head coach Jenny Boucek said. “We did execute that last one well, but I drew up a bad play.”

Jewell Loyd got the Storm started in the second half and drove through the Connecticut defense for the layup to move Seattle ahead by four. Crystal Langhorne converted on the turnaround layup and Ramu Tokashiki capped a 9-0 run with a pair of free throws to give the Storm a 47-38 lead.

Seattle held the Sun scoreless for 3:22 between the second and third quarters.

But Connecticut bounced back and went on a 16-4 run to end the quarter and got a three from Chelsea Gray at the buzzer to take a 54-51 lead. Seattle hit their first two shots of the quarter but then went 2-for-12 the rest of the way.

The Storm refocused at the start of the fourth and it started with a three from Jenna O’Hea to tie it back at 54. Bird then drove the lane for the short floater and then she turned the corner for a top of the key jumper to move Seattle ahead by four.

Bird had a team-high 15 points and five assists.

Later in the quarter, some solid defense from Tokashiki turned into a fastbreak and Bird dished to Loyd in the key who then found Tokashiki running the lane for the layup. It game the Storm a 62-56 lead.

With 1:58 left in the fourth and Seattle up by four, Stricklen dribbled towards the top of the key and drilled a fade away three to make it a one-point game with 48.9 seconds left. After a rebound and a timeout, Connecticut had the ball with 20.3 left and Camille Little threw up a shot, which went off the back rim but was rebounded by Stricklen and put back in to give the Sun the 67-66 lead.

Stricklen had 15 points off the bench for Connecticut. It was the 12th lead change of the game.

Seattle had one last chance with 8.1 seconds left and Abby Bishop took the runner in the lane but it was off the mark.

“For us this is a process, this whole season,” Bird said. “We are just trying to get better every day, so it’s not about one or two things to change, it’s more about learning from our mistakes and improving and trying to get better.

“Throughout a WNBA season every team is going to have ups and downs and we just want to make sure that if we take one step back, we want to take two steps forward and I think if you look at our last game against Washington and then tonight, we did take two steps forward. So, hopefully as we go we will just keep getting better.”

Loyd added, “We need to just keep playing our game and get tougher. I thought we showed a lot of toughness tonight, but we just didn’t execute at the end.”

Seattle will be back in action on Sunday at Madison Square Garden to take on the Liberty at 12 p.m.

Midway through the second quarter, Stricklen scored four straight points to give Connecticut a five-point lead at 27-22 but the Storm fired back and got points from Alysha Clark, Loyd, and Bird to take a two-point lead.

Loyd scored nine points of her 13 points in the first half.

A pair of free throws from Loyd gave Seattle a four-point lead but Connecticut battled back and went on a 6-0 run to take a two-point lead of their own. The run was snapped when Angel Goodrich found Markeisha Gatling on the break for the layup.

Goodrich had five assists in the half.

There were 10 ties and 12 lead changes in the first half with the largest lead for either team being five.

NOTES

Sue Bird entered the game 21 points shy of the 5,000-point plateau and her 15 points has her only six points shy of the benchmark. When she reaches it, she will be the first player in WNBA history to record at least 5,000 points and 2,000 assists… former Storm guard Shekinna Stricklen scored seven points in the first half… Seattle held Connecticut to 38.1 percent from the field.