Loyd scores 4,000^th career point as Seattle overcomes 21-point, first quarter deficit in victory

SEATTLE – Jewell Loyd scored 26 points, including the 4,000^th of her career, rookie Jordan Horstonadded a career-high 14, and the Storm rallied from 21 points behind at the outset of the second quarter, tying the second-largest comeback in franchise history, to beat the Los Angeles Sparks on Tuesday night in Climate Pledge Arena, 66-63.

Ezi Magbegor recorded her third double-double of the season, this one with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Seattle (1-4) was the last team in the WNBA to get into the win column, and it couldn’t have come in more dramatic fashion.

“That was a solid effort from our group. I’m super excited for this group to be rewarded by a win – and not just by the win, but by the how during the game,” said Storm Head Coach Noelle Quinn. “This is a good start for us. I’m super happy for this group by how we fought and stuck together and never wavered tonight.”

Down 27-6 after Jordin Canada buried a 3-pointer with 8:54 left in the second, the Storm outscored the Sparks the rest of the way, 60-36. That included 18-4 in the final 4½ minutes of the first half to get within 38-35 by the break.

“It was possession by possession, and just continue to chip away,” Quinn said. “Some good things happened before the half ended and that gave us some momentum to take into the second half”

It was a putback by Horston with 53 seconds remaining in the third quarter that gave the Storm a 49-48 lead, and they led for the rest of the way.

Seattle’s previous biggest comeback was from 22 points behind against the Houston Comets on May 19, 2007, in a season-opening 82-69 victory. They also had a 21-point rally against Phoenix on May 22, 2008, to pull out an 87-83 decision.

The Storm had given Los Angeles a run for it on Saturday in California before finally falling short, 92-85. But on Tuesday, it was all Sparks from the outset. The teams traded the first two basket (L.A.’s was a 3-pointer by Lexie Brown), and then the visitors went on a 16-0 scoring run for a 19-2 lead.

During that run, they held Seattle off the board for nearly five minutes by forcing six missed shots and four turnovers. But even then, Quinn had no inkling that all was lost.

“I always felt that we would stay together and fight and work. There never was a moment where I felt we were out of it,” she said. “We’ve been through these games, the first five games, where a variety of things happened in the game.”

The Storm finally climbed into their first tie of the night at 38-38 when Magbegor hit one of her two free throws on a shooting foul with 7:52 left in the third quarter.

Still tied at 40-40, Seattle went on top for the first time when Loyd drained a pair of free throws at the 4:18 mark. The first one was career point No. 3,999; the second was No. 4,000 making her just the third Storm player, the 42^nd player in WNBA history, and the ninth-youngest player to reach that milestone.

Seattle took a 52-48 lead into the fourth quarter. Horston extended it to 54-48 with a 10-footer from straight in front to begin the final period. The closest Los Angeles got after that was 54-43 on a traditional 3-point play by Canada at 8:08 to go.

It was never more than a two-possession game for the final 10 minutes.. The Sparks had multiple chances to climb back into a tie, and the Storm had opportunities to widen the lead.

A lay-up by Nneka Ogwumike with 1:28 to go brought Los Angeles within 66-63. From there, the Storm saw three shots fall snort, and the Sparks missed two. The last of those was an attempted reverse lay-in by Ogwumike with six seconds left. Magbegor grabbed the rebound, and the final second ticked off the clock.

DOING IT WITH DEFENSE 

The Storm tightened things up considerably on the defensive end. The 63 points was the fewest they’ve allowed this season by a long way. Their previous low was 86 last Tuesday against the New York Liberty.

Factoring into that was forcing 10 turnovers in the second quarter and 23 for the game. Also factoring in was forcing the Sparks into missing their first 10 field goal attempts in the third quarter. L.A.’s first – and only – field goal of that period was a turnaround five-footer by Nneka Ogwumike with 1:10 remaining.

BY THE NUMBERS 

–Nneks Ogwumike had another double-double for Los Angeles, with 22 points and 11 rebounds. She also double-doubled last Saturday against the Storm with 27 points and 14 boards.

— The Storm streak of making at least five 3-pointers in a game ended at 43-straight after they hit 4-of-20 on Tuesday, snapping what had been the second-longest streak in WNBA history. The last time they had fewer than five was Sept. 2, 2021, making just two against New York.

UP NEXT 

Seattle plays the first game of a back-to-back set against the Washington Mystics on Friday at 7:00 p.m. The second of those games will be Sunday at noon, the day that Sue Bird’s No. 10 jersey is raised to the rafters.