SEATTLE – Breanna Stewart scored a season-high 33 points to lead Seattle to its sixth-straight home win, defeating Minnesota 89-77 in front of a sellout crowd of 13,500 at Climate Pledge Arena on Wednesday night.
The Storm improves to 20-12 on the season, winning 20+ games for the ninth time in franchise history, and moving to 13-4 at home this season after winning its sixth-straight game and eighth in its last nine games. The Lynx drop to 12-20.
Stewart had another banner game, scoring a season-best 33 points thanks to hitting 13-of-20 from the field including 4-of-8 from three-point range, adding eight points, five assists, two steals and one block. And she did it all in just over 31 minutes of play. Stewart was the only fourth player in WNBA history to put up that stat line or better in a game, and the only one to do it in under 32 minutes.
Jewell Loyd added 17 points, five assists and a steal while Gabby Williams tallied 13 points, six rebounds, four assists, three steals. Sue Bird also scored in double figures with 13 points, contributing six assists, four rebounds and a block.
All five Storm starters had at least four assists, marking just the third time in WNBA history and the second time in Storm history that had happened in a game.
The Storm came out of the gate firing, opening the game with four-straight three-pointers, connecting on one on each of its first four possessions. Seattle would extend the lead to as many as 16 in the first quarter, tallying 30 points total to take a 30-18 lead after one.
Minnesota closed to within 10 points on a pair of occasions early in the second quarter, but Seattle responded with a long 19-6 run to go up 51-28 at the 2:20 mark and took a 56-32 lead to the half.
After the Storm opened up a 29-point lead late in the third quarter, the Lynx rallied back to make the score more respectable late, closing to 15 with 6:05 to go in the game, but unable to get closer than that until a three-pointer in the closing seconds set up the final 12-point difference in the game.
Seattle closes out the home portion of the regular season on Sunday, August 7, hosting the Las Vegas Aces at Noon in an ABC game. The Storm will honor Sue Bird, who will be playing her final regular-season contest in Seattle, and will do so in front of what is expected to be the largest crowd in Storm history.