SEATTLE–The Storm used a strong first quarter to set the pace and led by as many as 20 as it cruised to the 86-73 win over Atlanta on Saturday night.

It is the first time this season the Storm has won consecutive games and will go for three straight on Tuesday when it takes on New York.

“I think we’ve had some good practices and I think our players came in focused,” Storm head coach Jenny Boucek said. “I think they are starting to develop a trust for our systems and one another, really helping each other and creating for each other on both ends of the court.”

It took a while for the Storm (5-12) to gets its first bucket but once one went in, nearly all of them began to fall.

With 7:50 in the first, Tokashiki dribbled to the middle of the lane and hit the fade away jumper to tie the game at two. On the next trip down, Alysha Clark drilled a three from the left wing to go ahead 5-2.

The buckets, along with three Atlanta turnovers, sparked a 14-0 run where Seattle went 5-for-6 from the field, including six from Clark. The Storm shot 61.1 percent from the field on the opening period.

“We wanted to come out swinging first and Atlanta is an aggressive team,” Clark said. “And a lot of teams, if you let them be aggressive and get going, they feed off of steals and energy, and they are a very high energy team. So we wanted to make sure we could come out and strike first.”

Clark scored a career-high 14 points on 4-for-7 from the field.

Atlanta (7-9) struggled to take care of the ball in the second and committed eight turnovers, which resulted in nine Seattle points, and the Storm eventually took a 19-point lead.

Sue Bird was a constant presence during the run and finished with nine points and 12 assists, two off tying her career high. The Storm had a season-high 25 assists for the game and scored 23 points off the 19 Atlanta turnovers.

Angel McCoughtry, who scored eight points in the half, was responsible for six of the Dream’s 12 first half miscues.

“It is a team effort, starting with Alysha Clark obviously,” Boucek said. “Alysha is becoming one of the best defenders in the league and you are seeing her versatility defensively, to able to go from a Toliver, to an Ogwumike, to an Angel McCoughtry, and you don’t stop great players, but she is making them work very hard for what they are getting.

“Because she is somebody that is so solid defensively, it gives our team defense a chance to build up around her. So, it was a good collective effort but it started with Alysha.”

Tokashiki hit two straight jumpers to begin the third and they gave Seattle a 17-point advantage. She chipped in 14 points on 6-for-9 from the field. Seattle shot 56.9 percent from the field and scored 40 of the 86 in the paint.

Atlanta fired back and McCoughtry led the charge, including six of her 16 points, during a 8-3 run to cut the Seattle lead to 12 but an 8-0 run capped by a pair of free throws from Jewell Loyd gave the Storm the 63-43 lead.

The Dream got as close as 12 in the fourth quarter but was unable to complete the comeback.

Atlanta, who came in as the fourth best rebounding team in the league at 35.9 per contest, was kept off the boards in large part due to Langhorne, who finished the half with 10 points and seven rebounds. The Dream was outrebounded 15-12 in the first half.

She finished with 10 points and nine rebounds.

NOTES

Seattle held Atlanta to 37.5 percent from the field and 27.8 percent from three… Only two nights after forcing Nneka Ogwumike into eight turnovers, the Storm swarmed Angel McCoughtry as she committed seven turnovers… The Seattle bench collected 31 points with nine of them coming from Abby Bishop.