SEATTLE – Nneka Ogwumike scored 11 of her 22 points during the fourth quarter, and the Seattle Storm kept Golden State to its lowest offensive output of the season, beating the Valkyries on Wednesday afternoon, 67-58.

Erica Wheeler added 15 points and Skylar Diggins tallied 10 for the Storm in front of a sold-out Kid’s Day crowd of 12,500 inside Climate Pledge Arena.

The Storm is the first team to keep the Valkyries below 60 points.

“We were crashing (the boards) and coming up with these possessions,” Head Coach Noelle Quinn said. “We always talk about the 50-50 balls, which we haven’t been getting. To beat a team like the Valkyries, who have physicality at every position, you have to match or exceed that physicality. There were portions of the game where we did that consistently. The resolve of this team is strong.”

An early 6-0 run by the Storm put them up 7-2 in the opening minutes.

The lead changed hands nine times, and the two teams were tied five times during the first half, including 31-31 at the break.

Following the back-and-forth first half, Seattle led for the entirety of the second half and the Storm was up by as many as eight early in the fourth quarter.

“It was just being intentional on the defensive side,” said Wheeler, who had 11 third-quarter points, including the first eight of the period. “The offense will be what it will be. As long as we play lockdown defense, we’ll be fine. That’s what we did, and we also made shots at the right time, and Nneka just willed us home on those last couple possessions.”

After the Valkyries got within two in the final minutes of the fourth, Ogwumike put the next five points on the board: a free throw, a lay-in on a second-chance opportunity, and two more free throws. That made it a three-possession lead with a minute to go.

“I feel like the resolve was there, and we just wanted to make sure we won,” Ogwumike said. “With each possession and each quarter, our number one focus was to win the game. We wanted to make sure we were locked in on every possession. We wanted to make sure we ended possessions with a stop and see what we can do with it.” 

Ogwumike’s 22 points put her into No. 6 on the WNBA’s all-time scoring list with 6,896. She also moved past 1,000 points in a Seattle uniform, becoming the second fastest player to reach 1K in franchise history, doing it in just 60 games. 

Diggins also reached 1,000 points in a Storm uniform, becoming the fourth quickest player to reach 1K in franchise history, doing it in 63 games. One minute after sinking her 1,000th Storm point, she sent her 1,639th career assist, giving her sole possession of No. 8 on the WNBA all-time assists list. She finished with six of Seattle's 13 assists.

Cecilia Zandalasini came off the bench to lead Golden State with 12 points.

UP NEXT: Skylar Diggins, Nneka Ogwumike, and Gabby Williams head to Indiana to play in the 2025 AT&T All-Star Game on Saturday, July 19 at 5:30 pm PT. The game will be broadcast on ABC and available for Disney+ and ESPN+ users. Following the All-Star break, the Storm takes on the Dallas Wings on Tuesday, July 22 at 7:00 pm PT. The game will be streamed on ESPN3, broadcast locally on CW Seattle and available for Prime Video users in Washington state.