Fever Outmuscled Storm 94-86

A dominant performance inside led to Indiana's victory.

(Seattle, WA) - The Seattle Storm’s three-game winning streak was ended on Tuesday night against a fired-up Indiana Fever team. Indiana dominated inside the paint thanks to Aliyah Boston’s career-high. While Caitlin Clark brought the crowd (18,343), it was Boston and Kelsey Mitchell that put on the show. The Storm looked a step slow to the upstart Fever team. Indiana outmuscled, out-rebounded, out-hustled, and outshot Seattle. The Fever used a 30-19 third quarter to extend their six-point halftime lead to 17 points as the teams entered the 4th quarter. Despite a strong fourth by the Storm, the Fever left Seattle with a 94-86 win.

Skylar Diggins led the Storm with 22 points and six assists. Erica Wheeler scored 14 of her 20 points in the 4th period. She also made five of Seattle’s eight three-pointers in the game. Nneka Ogwumike, fresh off her Western Conference Player of the Week award, finished with 16 points and six rebounds, but surprisingly had an off-shooting night. Gabby Williams finished with 11 points, but also struggled with her shot, missing all four of her three-point attempts. Williams also had just two rebounds after having a career-high 12 rebounds against Las Vegas just a couple of games ago.

The correlation between Seattle Storm’s losses and Nneka Ogwumike’s total points is becoming a pretty noticeable trend. Seattle is 7-0 this season when Ogwumike scores over 20 points. The Storm are now 2-6 if Ogwumike is held to under 20 points. As I wrote very early in the season, this team goes as far as Nneka takes them.

Indiana controlled most of the game and won almost every statistical category. Seattle did earn nine more free throw attempts (25 to 16). And they were a plus-six from the charity stripe (20-14).

Indiana Fever

The Storm did a good job defending Caitlin Clark, limiting her to just six points on 3-13 FG shooting. That included Clark going 0-6 FG from beyond the three-point line. Clark finished with a game-high nine assists, but also a game-high eight turnovers.

Clark’s teammates picked her up, literally and figuratively. Aliyah Boston had the best game of her WNBA career. She scored a career-high 31 points on 13-18 FG. At one point, she had made 9-10 FG. Boston bullied her way past Seattle’s lighter defenders. And her shooting touch was on point. She also finished with eight rebounds and three assists.

While Boston was a constant threat, Kelsey Mitchell dominated the first three quarters. She scored 23 of her 26 points over the first 30 minutes. Mitchell made almost every three-point attempt. She knocked down 5-7 FG from beyond the arc. While Seattle couldn’t buy a basket, Mitchell couldn’t miss.

Lexie Hull had a major impact as well. She finished with a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds. She made several hustle plays to grab her rebounds, including three on the offensive end. Hull also hit a couple of dagger three-pointers to kill any of Seattle’s momentum.

Damiris Dantas was solid off the bench with 10 points on 4-7 FG. Indiana’s bench outscored Seattle’s reserves 12-8.

The Fever outshot the Storm 51% (36-71 FG) to 47% (29-62 FG). And 33% (8-24 FG) to 29% (8-28 FG) from the three-point range. Those last numbers are a bit deceptive, though. Through the first 30 minutes, the Fever had made seven three-pointers on 35% shooting, but the Storm made just three on less than 18% field goal shooting. That discrepancy allowed the Fever to build a 17-point lead and put the game away.

Indiana dominated the rebounding as well, out-rebounding Seattle 38 to 21. That included a 15-7 advantage in offensive rebounds, which led to 20 second-chance points. The Fever crushed Seattle in the paint, 52-38. They had a 17-8 edge in fast break points. Indiana had 10 steals and forced Seattle into 17 turnovers. Simply put, the Fever were the better team.

Game Breakdown

Caitlin Clark found Aliyah Boston open down low for the easy bucket. Skylar Diggins found Nneka Ogwumike cutting to the rim for the layup. Caitlin Clark got to the rim as the away crowd erupted in cheers. Ogwumike made a three-pointer right before the shot clock expired. Aliyah Boston had a reckless closeout that resulted in a Flagrant 1 foul. Nneka made the extra free throw. Clark found Boston again on the pick-and-roll for the easy score at the rim to tie the game 6-6.

Both teams were able to find their offense early. Diggins got to the rim. Natasha Howard scored in the paint from an offensive rebound. Gabby Williams made an aggressive drive to the rim and was rewarded with an AND1. She made the free throw to put Seattle up 11-8. Aliyah Boston was fouled and made both free throws.

Seattle pushed their lead to 18-12 after a layup from Skylar and an AND1 by Ezi Magbegor. Damiris Dantas made a nice reverse layup that was also an AND1. She then made another short jumper in the paint.

The first quarter was marred by an egregious number of fouls called. Fourteen fouls were whistled in total, and 15 free throw attempts were taken. Seattle made 7-8 FT and Indiana made all 7-7 FT.

While Seattle controlled most of the first period, the Fever ended the quarter on an 8-0 run. They got back-to-back three-pointers from Kelsey Mitchell and Damiris Dantas. Indiana led 27-24 at the end of the first.

Zia Cooke got to the rim for two. Nneka Ogwumike gave Seattle the lead back. Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston scored layups to retake the lead. Sophie Cunningham hit a pair of free throws. Diggins got to the rim. Gabby was fouled and made both of her free throws. Williams made a layup. Kelsey Mitchell knocked down another three-pointer. Layups by Magbegor and Boston kept the game tied.

Boston scored more points from the foul line. Indiana’s defense led to a fast break opportunity. Ezi was fouled and made one of two free throws. Kelsey Mitchell knocked down her third three-pointer of the first half to give the Fever a 45-39 lead at the midway point.

The Fever opened the second half with a stop, a score, a steal, and a score. That put them ahead by 10 points at 49-39, forcing Coach Quinn to call a timeout. Skylar was able to fight through contact to score at the rim. Indiana ran a beautiful play that swung the ball from left to right, set up a pick-and-roll on the right side, and kicked back to the left corner where Lexie Hull was wide open for the three-ball. That gave Indiana an 11 point lead.

Seattle responded with a corner three by Erica Wheeler and a Diggins layup to cut the deficit to six. After a few back-and-forth possessions, Lexie Hull drilled another corner three, collected another badly missed three-pointer by Caitlin Clark, and made the easy layup because no one boxed her out.

Aliyah Boston continued to do damage in the paint, and Kelsey Mitchell did the rest. Mitchell got an AND1 and then knocked down a three-ball. She did a high skip and slapped her thigh as she galloped back down the court. The Fever led 75-58 at the end of the third.

Lexie Hull’s hustle was on full display, whether it was rebounding, cutting to the rim, or playing good defense. Sophie Cunningham stole the ball, fed the ball to Clark, who made a beautiful full-court pass to Hull for the layup. Cunningham turned to her bench and screamed in celebration. That put Indiana up 19 points.

Seattle was able to cut into the lead a little bit as Wheeler connected on a three-ball, Skylar made a shot, and Magbegor made a three. The Storm’s defense wasn’t able to get enough stops on defense to make a difference. Kelsey Mitchell made another three, and no one could stop Aliyah Boston. Boston scored on three consecutive possessions.

The Storm cut the deficit down to seven after another Wheeler three-pointer, but it was too late. With less than 30 seconds to play, Seattle was forced to foul and did not score again. Indiana won the game 94-86.

Final Box Score

Up Next

Seattle finishes up their third and final game of their current homestand as they host the Connecticut Sun (2-12) on Friday, June 27th at 7:00 PM.

Part 2

Part 2 will include additional thoughts, quotes, and discussion from Tuesday’s game against the Indiana Fever. It’ll be sent exclusively to paid subscribers tomorrow morning.

Notes:
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