Breanna Stewart scores game-high 25 points to pace Seattle to its fourth-straight win
SEATTLE – Breanna Stewart scored a game-high 25 points and the bench came alive in the second half to lead Seattle to an 81-65 win over Indiana on Sunday afternoon at Climate Pledge Arena.
The Storm picked up its fourth-straight win to improve to 17-8 on the season while the Fever drops to 5-22 having lost 10-straight.
Stewart carried Seattle through the first half, scoring 17 of her 25 points over the first 20 minutes. She finished the game matching a season-high with four three-pointers and adding eight rebounds, three assists and a steal. Jewell Loyd added 15 points along with five rebounds while Tina Charles came off the bench to tally 15 points—13 in the second half—on 6-of-11 shooting.
Charles’ contributions in the second half keyed the Storm bench’s impressive play as Seattle got 22 of its 39 second-half points from its bench personnel. In addition to Charles, Stephanie Talbot had seven points, three rebounds, two assists, one steal and one emphatic block which she turned into a tough layup make on the other end.
Indiana started hot in the first quarter, opening an early 11-8 lead four minutes in. Seattle clamped down on defense, holding the Fever to just 1-of-7 while forcing three turnovers to ignite an 18-4 run over the final six minutes of the quarter and took a 26-15 lead after one.
Again, Indiana opened the second quarter strong, outscoring the Storm 8-2 early on. However, Seattle slowly chipped away and rattled off a 14-3 run midway through the period and led 42-31 at the half.
The story stayed the same in the third quarter as the Fever opened with a 10-2 run to cut Seattle’s lead to three at 44-41. The Storm would respond again in a big way, using an 11-4 run—with Charles scoring seven-straight—and led 55-48 heading to the fourth.
Through the first three quarters, Seattle had been outscored 29-12 through the first four minutes of the quarter, but outscored Indiana 44-19 over the final six minutes of each quarter. But Seattle would not let Indiana get off to a hot start in the fourth, jumping out on a 10-2 run to open a 15-point advantage three minutes in and didn’t look back. Indiana would get no closer than 13 the rest of the way in the victory.
The Storm held a 41-37 rebounding advantage and improved to 9-0 when outrebounding its opponent. Seattle also continued its recent trend of dominating in the paint, outscoring the Fever 44-36 in paint points. The Storm has scored 186 total points over its last four games, averaging 46.5 points per game after averaging 28.3 points in the paint through the previous 21 games.
Seattle heads back on the road for a pair of games, starting with an early game in Chicago on Wednesday, July 20. Tipoff is at 9:00 a.m. PT.
—— StormBasketball.com ——
|
TEAM |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
SCORE |
RECORD |
HIGH PTS |
HIGH REB |
HIGH AST |
|
INDIANA |
15 |
16 |
17 |
17 |
65 |
5-22 |
N. Smith, 15 |
N. Smith, 9 |
Mitchell/Robinson, 4 |
|
SEATTLE |
26 |
16 |
13 |
26 |
81 |
17-8 |
B. Stewart, 25 |
Williams/Stewart, 8 |
S. Bird, 6 |
STORY OF THE GAME
After Seattle led by as many as 16 in the first half, Indiana cut the deficit to three in the third quarter before the Storm closed the game on a 33-20 run. That included the Storm opening the fourth quarter on a 10-2 run to build a 15-point lead.
KEY STATS OF THE GAME
- The Storm bench contributed 27 points in the game with 22 of those over a 12:50 span in the second half. The bench outscored the starters 22-17 in the second half.
- Seattle held a 41-37 rebounding advantage and improved to 9-0 when outrebounding its opponent.
- The Storm also continued its recent trend of dominating in the paint, outscoring the Fever 44-36 in paint points. Seattle has scored 186 total points over its last four games, averaging 46.5 points per game after averaging 28.3 points in the paint through the previous 21 games.
STORM HIGHLIGHTS
- Breanna Stewart scored 25 points on 9-of-21 shooting, scoring 20+ points for the 11th time this season and reaching double-digits in her 23rd consecutive game. Stewart also tied her season high with four three-pointers, and added eight rebounds, three assists and one steal.
- Tina Charles had 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting off the bench, including 13 in the second half. She added seven rebounds, two steals and one assist in 27 minutes.
- Jewell Loyd also had 15 points while contributing five rebounds and two assists.
- Ezi Magbegor scored in double-digits for the 15th time this year with 10 points, and added six rebounds, three steals, two assists and one block.
- Stephanie Talbot came off the bench to score seven points, hitting all three shots attempted in the fourth quarter and contributing three rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block.
FEVER HIGHLIGHTS
- NaLyssa Smith led the Fever with 15 points and nine rebounds, followed by Emma Cannon’s 14 points, five rebounds, two steals and one assist.
MILESTONES
- With two steals in quick succession early in the 2nd quarter, Sue Bird moved past Alana Beard into third on the all-time steal list with 711 career steals.
NEXT GAME
The Storm heads back on the road, facing the Chicago Sky on Wednesday, July 20, for an early 9am PT tip.