Loyd and Ogwumike combine for 53 points as Seattle picks up first road win in 27 days

LOS ANGELES – The Seattle Storm are heading into the month-long Olympic break exactly the way they wanted to: On a roll. 

Jewell Loyd poured in 30 points – her fourth 30-pointer of the season and 25th of her career – and Nneka Ogwumike came through with another double-double, this one with 23 points and 10 rebounds, as the Storm hung on for an 89-83 victory against the Los Angeles Sparks in Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday afternoon. 

Seattle (17-8) heads into the month of downtime on a three-game winning streak and having won eight of its last 10. 

Loyd hit 8 of 18 from the floor and 11 of 16 from the free throw line, along with pulling down six rebounds and handing out seven assists. 

Ogwumike drained 9 of 17. Of her 10 boards, six were at the offensive end. The doube-double was her seventh of the summer and 107th of her career. 

Jordan Horston added 14 points and eight rebounds. Skylar Diggins-Smith, who missed the second half of Sunday’s 81-70 victory against Atlanta, was back in action, starting and playing 30-plus minutes. She had eight points and five assists. 

Once again, the Storm dished out 20-plus assists, racking up 21. It was their 10th time in the last 11 games with 20-plus and 14th time this season. 

Seattle took a 64-61 lead into the final quarter. Down 73-71 with 6:29 to play, the Storm ran off 11 points in a row to take command at 82-73, keeping the Sparks (6-18) off the scoreboard for 3 minutes, 26 seconds. 

L.A. got as close as 84-80 with 19.7 seconds left before Seattle got its final five points at the free throw line. 

The Storm led through the entire first quarter, and scored at the outset of the second for a 22-17 lead. But they then went 4 minutes, 25 seconds without a point while the Sparks ran off 12 in a row to take their largest lead of the day at 29-22. 

A 3-pointer by Loyd ended that dry spell, and Seattle closed the half on a 19-8 scoring run to take a 41-37 lead into the break. 

The Storm expanded it to as many as 12 at 55-43 midway through the third quarter before Los Angeles cut it down to three heading into the fourth. 

Loyd scored 12 of her 30 points during the fourth quarter, most of those from the foul line where she was 8 of 9. 

Azura Stevens led Los Angeles with 24 points and 15 rebounds. 

BY THE NUMBERS 

–Seattle shot 45.8 percent (31 of 68). Ezi Magbegor (3 of 4, .750), Horston (6 of 10, .600) and Ogwumike (9 of 17, .529) all topped 50 percent. 

— The Sparks hit 40.6 percent (28 of 69). 

–Loyd had double-digit attempts from the free throw line for the sixth time this season. She is shooting .869 (159 of 183). 

— Ogwumike tied her career high with six steals, a mark she now has reached three times. The last game she had that many was on July 12, 2019 against Indiana while she was still with the Sparks. 

— Seattle, which leads the league in steals, had 11. That was the 14 time in 25 games with double-digit thefts. 

–The Storm had 14 turnovers. Their team record is now 18 straight games with 15 or fewer. 

–Tuesday’s result snapped a three-game road losing streak. Seattle is now 6-5 away from home. 

UP NEXT 

The Storm will return from the Olympic break on Friday, Aug. 16 with a trip to Atlanta, the first of a three-game Eastern Conference road trip. Tip-off is at 4:30 p.m. Pacific time (ION).