By Wyatt Yearout
The Seattle Storm capped off its three-game home stand taking down the Dallas Wings 91-84 to improve its record to 16-6 on the season.
Breanna Stewart led the way for the Storm with a season-high 35 points to go along with 10 rebounds, also notching her third straight double-double.
Natasha Howard added 17 points for Seattle as well in the victory.
DEFINING MOMENTS
After taking a two-point lead into halftime, the Storm opened up the third quarter on a 10-0 run to gain its first real separation of the game at 56-44. After going scoreless the first four minutes of the third, Dallas finally got its offense rolling and managed cut the lead that was once at 12 points to just two to enter the fourth.
Seattle and Dallas traded buckets for the first seven minutes of the final quarter, with the Storm hanging on to a cushion around two points. After being down the whole period, the Wings scored four straight to reclaim the lead at 77-76 with just over two minutes remaining.
The Storm didn’t panic, and answered by rattling off a 10-3 run to take a five-point lead at 86-79 with just 33.9 seconds left. Dallas knocked down a couple shots down the stretch but was forced to foul Seattle. The Storm converted on all but one of its free throws down the stretch to maintain the lead and secure a seven-point victory.
HUGHES’ TAKE
Head coach Dan Hughes felt a real difference maker in the game was getting to the free throw line 27 times to the Wings’ 18 times.
“They’re a dominant team as far as their scoring from the free throw line, so we really wanted to be disciplined on shooters.”
NOTES
- Stewart, the WNBA’s top scorer who came into the night averaging 22.0 PPG, eclipsed the 20-point mark for the 16th time this season and 25-point mark for the 11th time in 2018, recording 35 points on 12-for-22 shooting.
- With 35 points, Stewart was three shy of tying her career-high of 38 (vs. ATL, 6/28/16). This marked her sixth 30-plus point game of her career.
- Howard scored nine first-quarter points on 4-for-4 shooting in the first quarter alone en route to finishing with 17 points to go along with five rebounds.
- Jewell Loyd pulled down eight rebounds tonight, tying a season-high, which she has now achieved four times this season. She also scored 13 points and had six assists.
- Rookie guard Jordin Canada played 19 minutes and scored eight points to go along with four rebounds off the bench. She has scored eight or more points nine times in 2018.
- With a critical three-pointer that put Seattle up 84-79 with 1:04 left to play, Sue Bird tied Becky Hammon for third all-time in WNBA history for three-pointers made with 829.
UP NEXT
Seattle plays the first of five straight games on the road in its next matchup against the Chicago Sky on July 14. Tip-off is set for 9 a.m./PT.