Rookie forward scored 23 points with 10 rebounds to pace Seattle offense

COLLEGE PARK, Ga. – Jordan Horston didn’t even need 20 games as a pro to put her first 20-point performance into the book.

The Seattle rookie forward poured in a career-high 23 and added 10 rebounds for her third double-double. But the Storm, playing without leading scorer Jewell Loyd because of a lingering foot injury, fell behind by double-digits early and never were able to climb all the way back in dropping an 85-75 decision to the Atlanta Dream on Wednesday night.

Playing just her 17^th WNBA game, the 6-foot-2 Horston had several of her former University of Tennessee teammates cheering her on from the stands inside The Gateway Center. She got the start in place of Loyd, who racked up 39 points and hit a WNBA record-tying nine shots from 3-point range in a 93-86 loss at Washington on Tuesday.

She didn’t disappoint, hitting 8-of-16 from the floor, including 3-of-4 from downtown. That was a career-high for makes from behind the arc. Horston also had three steals and dished two assists.

Dulcy Fankam Mandjiadeu added 13 points, and Gabby Williams came off the bench for 10, her first points for the Storm this season after rejoining the team last week.

But with starters Ezi Magbegor (0-for-8) and Ivana Dojkic (0-for-2) being kept scoreless, Seattle (4-16) wasn’t able to make up for the absence of Loyd’s 25.7 scoring average, and fell for the seventh-straight time to close the first half of the 40-game season. Magbegor did pull down eight rebounds.

In recording their sixth-straight victory, the Dream (11-8) led for all but 13 seconds of the game, down 9-7 after the Storm put together a 7-0 run. Atlanta responded with a 12-1 burst to make it 19-10, and was up 27-17 by the end of the first quarter.

Seattle got within eight at 39-31 late in the second quarter before the Dream closed with a 9-2 run, the last of which came on a buzzer-beating trey from Rhyne Howard to make it 48-33 at halftime.

They kept it going with the first seven points to start the third quarter, expanding their advantage to 55-33 while keeping the Storm off the board for the first 4:02 of that period.

The lead grew to as many as 24 points early in the fourth quarter at 78-54. Then Seattle, which has been falling behind by double digits in the past several games before making furious comebacks to get within striking range, did the same thing in the final seven minutes on Wednesday.

Horston provided seven of those points, and Sami Whitcomb chipped in five. Whitcomb’s 3-pointer from the right of the lane cut it to single digits at 83-75 with 1:18 remaining. A loose ball on Atlanta’s subsequent possession that was batted around between the circles on Atlanta’s side midcourt line could have provided a chance to get even closer. But the Dream ultimately latched onto it, and Parker laid it in for an 85-75 advantage with just 56.5 seconds left.