Seattle keeps up strong shooting en route to third-straight win
SEATTLE — Five Seattle players scored in double-figures and the Storm continued its hot shooting, pulling away with a big third quarter to beat Dallas 83-74 on Tuesday afternoon at Climate Pledge Arena.
The Storm improves to 16-8 on the season, winning its third-straight game over and fifth in its last six home games. The Wings drop to 10-13.
Breanna Stewart led Seattle in scoring, tallying 19 points on 6-of-12 shooting with 11 of those points coming in the third quarter. She added seven rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block. Stephanie Talbot came off the bench and scored 14 points including eight in the fourth, connecting on 6-of-8 from the field in the game. Ezi Magbegor and Jewell Loyd added 13 points each with Magbegor nearly recording her third-straight double-double, finishing with eight rebounds while adding two steals and two blocks.
Seattle continued its hot shooting, hitting 47.6% from the field in the game, shooting 45% or better for the third-straight game. That included the Storm making 9-of-12 shots in the third quarter, shooting 75% from the field in a quarter for the third time in the last two games.
After falling behind early, Seattle outscored Dallas 17-5 over a four-minute span in the first quarter and led 25-19 at the end of one. But it was all Dallas in the second quarter as the Wings opened on a 15-4 run and outscored the Storm 22-14 in the period to take a 41-39 lead to the half.
Seattle rallied in the third, opening the half on a 14-4 run to go up 53-45 just four minutes in. The Storm held a 27-17 advantage in the quarter to take a 66-58 lead to the fourth with Stewart scoring 11 points in the third quarter alone, hitting 4-of-5 from the field and adding a pair of free throws.
In the fourth, Dallas pulled to within six with a quick bucket, but Seattle scored five-straight to stretch the lead to 11 at 71-60 with 7:52 to go. The Wings stayed close the rest of the way, but Talbot came up with a few big shots, scoring eight of her 14 in the final period as Dallas could not get any closer than eight the rest of the way.
Teaira McCowan scored a season-high 18 points and added 10 rebounds to pace the Wings, hitting 8-of-14 (57.1%) from the field. However, the rest of the team shot just 19-of-58 (32.8%) in the game as the Storm defense clamped down on the high-scoring Wings. Arike Ogunbowale, who entered the game as the WNBA’s third-leading scorer, continued to struggle against the Storm, scoring 12 points on 4-of-18 shooting in the game. She averaged just 13.3 ppg against the Storm in four games this season.
Seattle, which played the final game before the WNBA’s All-Star break and the first game after the break, now gets a few days off, returning to action on Sunday, July 17, hosting the Indiana Fever at 3:00 p.m. at Climate Pledge Arena.