Jewell Loyd and Arike Ogunbowale duel as Wings Beat Storm 76-65

Loyd's 31 points aren't enough as Seattle falls to Dallas on Wednesday night.

(Seattle, WA) - The Seattle Storm weren’t able to carry the momentum of their successful road trip as they returned home to face the Dallas Wings on Wednesday night. It was a struggle offensively, especially in the second and fourth quarters where they combined for just 24 points total. Jewell Loyd was magnificent but her scoring wasn’t enough to put Seattle in the Win column.

Dallas shut down just about everyone else with their size and length. The combination of Arike Ogunbowale and Satou Sabally was enough to lead the Wings to their 15th win of the season by a final score of 76-65.

Loyd finished with a game-high 31 points but for a moment it looked like she might not play beyond the first quarter. Just a few minutes into the game Jewell took a shot and came down on the defender's foot turning her ankle as she landed. Loyd remained on the floor for several minutes, pounding the floor as she was in clear agony. She eventually had to be carried off the court.

The landing looked rough and immediately brought back some bad memories of my own life. Back in 2007, I was playing basketball and jumped up to attempt to block a shot. I came down on another player’s foot and badly rolled my ankle. I was in a walking boot for about eight months and ultimately needed to have surgery to fix the torn ligament.

Much to my dismay, it happened again to Awak Kuier a few minutes later as she landed on Sami Whitcomb’s foot after collecting an offensive rebound and immediately going back up with another shot.

Unlike Loyd, Kuier did not return to play in the game. Hopefully, it was just precautionary and she’ll be able to play again with the Wings soon.

After the game, Jewell had a lot of choice words about the referees. When asked how her ankle was doing after the game, Loyd had this to say.

“Well, you can ask the refs! This game was pretty physical from the start and they let that happen. And I’ve said this earlier in the season, it’s about player safety. They didn’t give a shit about us. Both teams. It’s pretty remarkable how they consistently do this and players are constantly getting hurt and they just walk away like nothing happens. They don’t get a fine. They don’t get a review. We are the ones that have to deal with our injuries. This is actually bullshit.” Jewell said during the post-game press conference.

“If we’re asked to do our jobs, listen, and have a good dialogue with refs. Then we deserve that same respect. Tonight, it showed that they didn’t respect the players. They didn’t respect the coaches when they were asking questions. They didn’t care.” She added.

That was as mad and frustrated as I’ve ever seen Loyd since I’ve been covering her dating back to her rookie year in 2015.

I did follow up by asking her if she would have been less frustrated had the referees actually called the flagrant foul on her injury because whether the call was made or not, defenders continue to crowd jump shooters and are causing these injuries with reckless closeouts.

“Probably. That’s the rule. It’s a reckless closeout. If someone is stepping on someone’s foot then you call it. We’ve seen it called, we’ve seen it not called. I got tackled on a three and they don’t review it. Jordan got elbowed in the face and they don’t review it. Sometimes you get hit in the face and they review it. There is no consistency. Just call the foul. Because then you have an explanation. Maybe (players) don’t close out as hard. In the back of your mind, you’re like ‘I don’t want to hurt them’. You don’t want to pick up that (flagrant) foul so I’m not going to close out. But allowing it to go on then two plays later, they have an injured player with the same thing. If you don’t correct it the first time, then someone’s going to get injured.” Loyd told me.

Getting back to the basketball side of things. Loyd finished the game with 31 points and five rebounds. Ezi Magbegor was the only other Storm player to reach double figures with 14 points. She also had a team-high nine rebounds.

Gabby Williams and Sami Whitcomb each added seven points. Williams really struggled with some costly turnovers throwing the ball away six times. She did have a game-high five assists, however. That’s sometimes what you get with Gabby, the good and the bad.

Dallas Wings

Arike Ogunbowale led the team with 27 points. Similar to Loyd, Arike also knocked down five three-pointers in this game. Each one more dazzling than the next.

I spoke with both Jewell and Coach Quinn about the two Notre Dame guards.

“It’s just a competitive spirit. I’m not sure if it’s anything but two amazing players trying to be great for their teams. Obviously, we talk about the Notre Dame connection. I think iron sharpens iron. You match up one-on-one. The person in front of you can score it and you can as well. It just brings out the best in each other.” Coach Quinn said after the game.

“It’s just respect. I don’t look at it as a one-on-one battle. It’s bigger than that. For me, I’m just trying to get to my benchmarks. Any player that gets hot, regardless of who it is, when they get going... We both have that capability for doing that but it’s never about the one on one for me.” Jewell added.

Satou Sabally, dubbed the Unicorn, did a bit of everything She finished with 18 points and nine rebounds. She caused mismatches against Seattle often being defended by smaller defenders as the Wings went to a large lineup shifting Sabally to the three spot. Satou not only scored but also collected three steals on the defensive end of the court. As an upcoming Restricted Free Agent, Sabally is likely earning herself a very nice contract for next season and beyond. Seattle would be smart to at least make a recruiting pitch in the off-season.

Rookie Maddy Siegrist had one of her best games of the season. She finished with seven points off the bench on 3-4 FG shooting. The Top 3 selection has struggled to adjust to the WNBA up to this point, but this was a performance she can take and learn from in a positive manner.

Dallas out-rebounded Seattle 44 to 30. They had 17 offensive rebounds that resulted in 16 second-chance points (12 more than the Storm had).

Game Breakdown

Arike Ogunbowale sank the game’s first jumper. She followed that up with a three-pointer to quickly put the Wings up 5-0. Jewell Loyd responded on the other end with a deep jumper inside the arc. Ogunbowale sank another three-pointer. Loyd hit another jumper but her defender didn’t leave space for her to land. She rolled her ankle badly and was in agony for several minutes. Loyd had to be helped off the court and was immediately taken to the back.

Teaira McCowan and Ezi Magbegor each scored back-to-back baskets for their respective teams. Ogunbowale was fouled driving to the rim and sank both free throws to put Dallas up 16-8.

Without Loyd, the rest of the Storm battled well keeping the score within four points at 18-14. Magbegor and Whitcomb scored a couple more times to keep it close.

Surprisingly, Loyd checked back in, to a huge eruption from the crowd. She immediately proceeded to sink another jumper. Magbegor then tied the game at 18-18 on a beautiful Eurostep + reverse layup past McCowan.

Dallas knocked down four free throws to end the quarter and took a 22-19 lead into the second period.

Maddy Siegrist connected on a three-pointer to open up the second quarter. Seattle’s next basket came from Whitcomb who knocked down her own triple from beyond the arc. Layups by McCowan and Ogunbowale put the Wings up seven at 29-22.

Gabby Williams and Crystal Dangerfield exchanged mid-range jumpers. A layup by Natasha Howard put the Wings up double-digits at 35-24. A turnover by Jordan Horston and a three-ball by Satou Sabally put Dallas ahead by 13.

A four-point play by Jewell Loyd briefly helped Seattle cut the deficit down to 10 but the Wings finished the first half on an 8-5 run to take a commanding 46-33 lead into the locker rooms.

Arike Ogunbowale led all scorers with 14 points despite her foul trouble. She picked up three personal fouls in the first half. Teaira McCowan was also a menace to defend and scored 10 points on 5-6 FG shooting through the first twenty minutes. Jewell Loyd led the Storm with 13 points and Ezi Magbegor added eight (all in the first period).

Neither team shot great in the first half with the Wings holding a small advantage 44% (17-39 FG) to 42% (14-33 FG). Dallas’s biggest advantage was in rebounding with eight more boards (23-15). The nine offensive rebounds were extra damaging to Seattle. They also forced the Storm into nine turnovers while limiting themselves to just six.

The Notre Dame guards continued to put on a show with both Ogunbowale and Loyd knocking down three-pointers early into the third period. It was a little bit of “Anything you can do, I can do better.”

Most of the quarter was the two of them knocking down ridiculous shot after ridiculous shot. Loyd finished with 12 points in the third and Ogunbowale scored 13.

A three-ball by Arike and a layup by Satou put the Wings up 17 points at 63-46 with two minutes to go. The Storm finished the quarter on a 9-2 run. Loyd hit another triple. Ezi got a layup and Mercedes Russell hit a nice midrange jumper. Gabby Williams sank a floater at the buzzer.

Dallas led 65-55 as the two teams entered the final frame. Satou Sabally scored five quick points to begin the fourth quarter. One shot from beyond the arc and another where she faked the three and aggressively got to the rim.

Seattle scored just four points through the first five minutes hurting their chances at another impressive comeback. But that didn’t stop them from trying. Baskets by Williams and Loyd cut the Wings’ lead down to nine at 74-65 with roughly three minutes left in the game.

Unfortunately, the Storm didn’t score at all over the final three minutes. That meant nearly seven minutes of the fourth quarter they were held scoreless. Their defense limited Dallas to only 11 points but they didn’t do enough offensively to come away with the victory. At the final buzzer, the Storm lost the game 76-65.

“We knew going into it that they are a big team. They threw in some lineups where they had four post players on the floor. Going into the game, we knew we had to box out. We needed to be better at boxing out and rebounding. We let them get too many offensive rebounds.” Ezi Magbegor stated.

Additional Analysis

Are the Wings a Legit Title Contender?

That’s a question I’m trying to figure out as this season progresses. Dallas has been on an upward trajectory since the month of July. The Wings struggled a lot in the month of June losing seven of their 11 games, but they really turned things around in July. They’ve won eight of their next 11 games including Wednesday’s game in Seattle.

Dallas now owns the second-best record in the Western Conference and more importantly the fourth-best record in the entire WNBA. If they maintain that spot, they will host their first-round playoff matchup against the 5th seed. As Seattle proved last season against the Washington Mystics in the 4/5 matchup, home games in the playoffs are everything!

The challenge will be whether or not they can not just get past the first round but the semi-finals as well. If things hold as they are now and there were no major upsets, the Wings would face the Las Vegas Aces in the semi-finals. That is unless Dallas is able to catch Connecticut as the third seed. Then they would face New York.

What makes things interesting is the fact that the Wings are the only WNBA team to beat both the New York Liberty and the Las Vegas Aces this season. The two teams with the best records in the league.

Now could they beat either of the top two teams three times in a five-game series? That’s where things get a lot more questionable. I might give them a chance against the Liberty. Even as the Aces have been without Candace Parker and might be for the rest of the season, I’m honestly not certain any other team will be able to topple Las Vegas three times in a series.

I wanted to get an expert’s opinion so I talked with Coach Quinn about the Dallas Wings and if she sees them as legit WNBA title contenders with the likes of the Aces and Liberty.

“We talk about Connecticut being a matchup nightmare when they’re big. Dallas presents the same thing. Dallas doesn’t shoot a lot of threes but what they do in the paint and with offensive rebounding/second-chance, and what they’ve done defensively is very strong. We’ve seen when they match up with Vegas even, they are in the games because of their physicality. When you get into the playoffs situation, when you have a physical team, those possessions shrink. What you can do in the halfcourt matters. What they can do is put Arike in situations where they can go iso and just goes off. But they also have Satou who can do the same. But they also have a post presence in Natasha, McCowan, and Brown. From a logistical standpoint, the mismatches they present are difficult. I think they’ll be really good in the postseason.” Coach Quinn told me.

Quick Hook for the Rook(s)

There is no sugar-coating it. Jordan Horston really struggled in this game against Dallas. Horston played just 12 minutes and scored two points. She also had three turnovers.

From my vantage point, it felt like she was less certain and confident than we normally see her; possibly overthinking things too much.

I think it’s fair to say that Dallas’s size and length bothered Horston along with the rest of her teammates. At different times, the Wings had 6’7” Teaira McCowan, 6’7” Kalani Brown, 6’5” Awak Kuier, 6’4” Satou Sabally, and 6’2” Natasha Howard out on the court against Seattle.

Jordan wasn’t the only rookie who got yanked after just a few minutes of action in this game. We also saw Ivana Dojkić play just four minutes including only one in the 2nd half. She was quickly subbed out after one or two plays.

I spoke with Coach Quinn after the game about the short leashes for the rookies in this game.

“I actually talked with Jordan. I just felt like her focus wasn’t quite there. Even stemming from earlier in the day in shootaround. Her matchup was tough. I needed her to guard Satou but also at the three. I think that threw off her cadence and her rhythm. She’s been playing the four and getting downhill. I just didn’t feel like the sharpness of her execution was there.” Coach Quinn told me.

“Same thing with Ivy (Ivana Dojkić). You can’t mess up coverages on key players. I felt we could have given her a little bit more of an opportunity but this game warranted sharpness. I wanted our players off the bench to have that and we didn’t have that tonight.” She added.

Trade Deadline Looming

The trade deadline is mere days away. Unlike the MLB, NHL, or NBA we generally don’t see a ton of player movement in the WNBA. Maybe that’s because eight out of the 12 teams make the playoffs so most teams still feel like they have a shot to compete for a title. Or maybe it’s because the salary cap that already forces some teams to only carry 11 players (instead of 12) is too tight to have the flexibility to make a big mid-season move.

Will we see much player movement before the August 7th deadline? Probably not. But there are a few teams that could look to make a move. If any teams do make a trade, you’d think teams like Connecticut, New York, Dallas, and maybe Atlanta would be the teams that would be interested. If any of those teams think they can knock off Las Vegas with one extra piece.

I imagine a ton of teams would be interested in Jewell Loyd, I’m not sure I could envision that trade happening for a couple of reasons. I have a hard time picturing the ownership being willing to trade away the face of the franchise. Especially, after Loyd has really stepped up her game this season both on and off the court after the departures of Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart. And secondly, I don’t think any other team could take on her super max contract even at a reduced mid-season rate.

Richard Cohen of Her Hoop Stats suggested on Twitter that Gabby Williams would be a very attractive option for teams looking to trade for her. Her contract is a lot more reasonable and likely would fit with some other teams. It may require they have to cut a player with an unprotected contract. But Williams would be an attractive piece for other teams to acquire as they make a push for the playoffs and a WNBA Championship.

I asked Richard what he felt the Storm could get for trading Gabby Williams and he suggested either a first-round pick or a younger talent with upside. I’m not certain that’s the case but Storm General Manager Talisa Rhea should absolutely work the phones ahead of the trade deadline to find out.

I think if you could get a first-round pick for Gabby Williams you absolutely have to make that trade. Especially, knowing that she is an Unrestricted Free Agent after this season. And the fact that both the 2024 and 2025 draft class appears to be loaded with talent.

I’m honestly not certain a team would be willing to give that up. But if they are in win-now mode, they certainly might. It’s worth inquiring about.

Would you want the Storm to make a trade?

Up Next

A quick one-game road trip down to the desert in Phoenix, Arizona before the team returns to Seattle for four home games. The Storm will face off against the Phoenix Mercury on Saturday, August 5th at 7:00 PM.

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