Storm set franchise record in 106-69 win over the LA Sparks

Seattle made 65% of their shots, the best in team history!

(Los Angeles, California) - What a statement made by the Seattle Storm as the WNBA enters All-Star Weekend. Seattle crushed the short-handed Los Angeles Sparks by 37 points with a final score of 106-69. The loss for LA was the largest at home for the proud franchise. The Storm were firing on all cylinders, so much so that they set a brand new franchise record. Never in the history of the team had they shot this well. Seattle made 42-65 field goals good for 64.6% from the floor. Everyone got in on the action! Six different Storm players reached double figures and all 10 players scored at least five points.

Breanna Stewart led the way with 23 points in 24 minutes of action. Stewie made 9-15 FG and 3-5 from beyond the arc. Tina Charles continues to get better in Seattle’s system scoring 18 points in 19 minutes. Jewell Loyd added 16 points and a game-high seven assists, Stephanie Talbot scored 13 points off the bench, and Gabby Williams continues to score with 11 points. Williams and Talbot combined for 10-12 FG.

“I thought we were locked in from the jump. We knew it was important to come out with the mindset of not knowing who was going to be on the floor. But it didn’t dictate how we wanted to play both offensively and defensively. I thought we got a lot of contributions from everyone, from top to bottom. It was a good way to end before the break.” Coach Quinn said in her opening statement after the game.

This was the second game in a row where Seattle scored more than 50 points in the paint. The Storm have been doing a better job of attacking the rim and the addition of Tina Charles in the low post certainly helps this. They outscored the Sparks 56-38 inside the paint. Seattle outrebounded LA 36-24. A big part of that was Ezi Magbegor who had a double-double for the second game in a row. Magbegor finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Seattle had a 30-18 edge in assists. Their bench also outscored the Sparks’ reserves 41-6.

The Los Angeles Sparks

LA had four of their starters score in double figures. Lexie Brown led the team and played well scoring 16 points on 7-12 FG. Brown also had four steals and four assists in the game. Jordin Canada added 14 points and a team-high six assists. Liz Cambage also scored 14 points and Nneka Ogwumike provided 10 more for Los Angeles. The Sparks did have a slight edge in fast-break points 9-8.

Game Breakdown

Liz Cambage finally scored after both teams missed multiple shots to begin the game. Seattle started the game 0-4 FG before Stewie finally knocked down a mid-range jumper. Stewart was fouled and made both of her free throws. Nneka responded scoring down the lane.

Gabby Williams scored five straight points on a layup and then a nice find of her down in the low post where she scored an AND1 after getting fouled by the smaller Jordin Canada. Katie Lou Samuelson responded on the other end burying a three. Jewell tried to get that one back but missed. Fortunately, Ezi tapped the ball up in the air and away from the defenders. She was able to recover the offensive rebound and then find Stewie who came back into the picture to knock down the triple.

It was the UConn connection in the first quarter as Gabby Williams and Breanna Stewart scored the team’s first 17 points.

Nneka Ogwumike and Liz Cambage scored four points to cut the lead to 17-14. Tina Charles had a nice step-back. It was the first points of the opening quarter that weren’t scored by either Stewart or Williams.

Seattle led 19-14 after one. Stewie led all scorers with 12 points and Gabby added five more. Both Cambage and Nneka Ogwumike had four points to lead LA.

Charles drove past the defense to begin the scoring in the second quarter. Seattle’s defense got another steal which led to a Jewell Loyd pull-up jumper. With four quick points to put the Storm up nine points, Coach Fred Williams called a timeout to settle his team down.

They got the ball back into Liz Cambage for two. Then Nneka stole the pass intended for Tina Charles for another easy two.

Jewell started to heat up scoring 11 points in the quarter. Jordin Canada surprisingly knocked down a three with the shot clock winding down. Lexie Brown was able to score in the lane. But Seattle responded with an Epiphanny Prince triple and another tough basket by Stewie.

Ezi had an AND1 as she drove through the lane and finished through contact. Magbegor’s biggest impact in the first half was her rebounding where she led all players with nine rebounds through the first two quarters.

Piph then found Jewell in the corner for another three. The Storm used a 17-5 run in the 2nd quarter to take a 17-point lead at 40-23 with around three and a half to go in the first half.

Tina Charles started going to work late in the second scoring eight points in the quarter. She had a couple of nice drives to the rim, including one where she palmed the ball and scooped it up and under Liz Cambage. She also had a couple of silky smooth jumpers.

Lexie Brown scored five points at the end of the half including a deep three and a nice drive as the first-half buzzer expired.

Seattle shot 58% (19-33 FG) in the first half while holding Los Angeles to 38% (13-34 FG). The Storm were also a perfect 8-8 from the foul line and shot 50% from beyond the arc (5-10). Maybe most surprisingly, was how strong the Storm were on the boards out-rebounded LA 20-11 in the first half.

The Storm led by 19-points (51-32) as the teams headed to the locker rooms. Stewie led all scorers with 19 points. Jewell added 11 and Charles had 10 points for Seattle. Brown led LA with nine points through the first two quarters.

Offensively, the Sparks were much better to begin the third period. They scored 11 points in the first three minutes. Jordin Canada was aggressive scoring five of those points by attacking the rim. Cambage and Brown also got some points in the paint.

Fortunately, Seattle’s offense was ready for the task. Jewell scored the first four points for Seattle including two from the charity stripe. Gabby had a nice pull-up jumper over Katie Lou. Briann January was able to connect on a three for her first points of the game. Then Ezi had a nice open floor steal racing down the other end for the easy two.

Cambage was fouled again and scored from the foul line. Loyd found a cutting Stewart for a beautiful shot. Gabby, Tina, and Stewie all scored to put Seattle up 74-49.

Jasmine Walker buried a triple to try and limit the damage. Jordin Canada got a nice steal that led to points.

Both teams played pretty evenly in the third with the Storm edging the Sparks 28-26 in points. Seattle led 79-58 through the third quarter.

Charles and Jantel Lavender both scored quickly to begin the 4th quarter. The Storm’s defense forced two more turnovers Charles then found a cutting Bri January who laid it in right at the shot clock buzzer.

Katie Lou was able to draw a foul and sank both free throws. Talbot hit a nice shot over Samuelson.

Brown and Talbot exchanged threes. Ezi scored five straight to put her into double figures. It was Magbegor’s second double-double in as many games.

Prince nailed a mid-range jumper to give Seattle their 100th point of the game.

Talbot was the most active player during the late-game stretch scoring 11 of her 13 points in the final period. Fred Williams didn’t bother playing Nneka at all in the 4th as Seattle outscored LA 27-11. Gabby, Stewie, and Jewell all rested the last 10 minutes of the game with the contest out of hand.

When it was all said and done the Storm won 106-69.

“This was a bounceback game for us. Obviously, we lost to them earlier. But we feel confident, we’re obviously getting better throughout the season. You’re going to lose some games and you’re going to win some games. We came in focused, energized to get this win and get a break.” Loyd told me after the game.

Additional Analysis

Ezi Continues to Grow

It really is a pleasure to watch Magbegor continue to grow and develop her skills at the WNBA level this season. She has shown flashes of greatness since her rookie year in 2020. But it’s noticeably different this season. She’s finishing stronger and more accurate at the rim now. She’s playing with such confidence in driving into the lane. Ezi has added a consistent three-point shot this year to help stretch the floor. Defensively, she’s been sturdy leading the WNBA in blocked shots per game.

Recently, it’s been her ability to rebound the basketball that has caught my eye. As mentioned above, she has now had double-digit rebounding and scoring in back-to-back games. She continues to get better and better as the season progresses.

Rebounding has been a stat the Storm have really struggled with this year. If Magbegor can start consistently pulling down 7-10 RPG that’s going to help this team even more.

I talked with Coach Quinn after the game about her improvement in that area this season.

“She’s rebounding outside of her area. She’s going up in the trees and getting those. Those are the rebounds we need. Earlier in the season, she was also getting extra possessions on the offensive end with her offensive rebounding. Now she’s putting it all together. Her activity is amazing. She just continues to find ways to help us. The intangibles. The block shots are one thing. Getting up and down the floor. The rebounding is going to continue to be important for us. It’s good to see her leaping over and getting some amazing rebounds today.” Quinn on Ezi’s rebounding improvement.

Tina Charles is Heating Up!

Don’t look now but Tina Charles has been looking like Tina Charles out there over the past two games and that’s a scary thing for the rest of the WNBA. Charles had 13 points on 5-6 FG shooting and eight rebounds against the Indiana Fever last game. And on Thursday night, she put up 18 points on 8-12 FG shooting in just 19 minutes of action.

“She’s a prolific scorer. The more and more she gets comfortable with our system you see where we can utilize her in isolated situations. Her ability to stretch the floor, to go to work in the paint, and her rebounding. Those are things, up to this point, we had been deficient in. For her to be efficient, 8-12 FG, 18 (points) in 19 minutes, that’s what we need. Again, the comfort level once we get more practices. Once she understands a little bit more, all of our plays, for all the things that matter. For her to be successful, she’ll continue to help us tremendously.” Coach Quinn said about the impact Charles is having.

“We know Tina’s one of the best players in this league. An amazing player. Very efficient tonight. As Jewell touched on earlier, as she gets more comfortable in what we’re trying to do with our offense, she’s going to continue to gain confidence and know what she wants to do; know what her spots are. We saw glimpses of that and it’s only going to get better.” Stewart added.

Charles can be a game-changer for Seattle. When the news broke that she’d be signing with Seattle I previously stated that adding Charles to a roster that already has Breanna Stewart, Jewell Loyd, Sue Bird, and Ezi Magbegor would elevate Seattle from what I considered Tier 2 to a Tier 1 Championship contender. Prior to the addition, I would have put Seattle below Chicago, Las Vegas, and Connecticut. But not anymore.

I would argue they now have more depth than both Las Vegas and Connecticut and are on par with the Chicago Sky. And that makes them a …

Dangerous Team

It’s a little difficult to evaluate Seattle’s recent performances against the Indiana Fever and the Los Angeles Sparks because, well it was the Indiana Fever and a Sparks team that was missing Brittney Sykes, Chennedy Carter, Kristi Toliver, Chiney Ogwumike, etc., and was pretty depleted. With that said the Storm are clicking right now and just won back-to-back games on the road by a combined 59 points! That’s no easy feat in a league as talented as the WNBA.

I think it’s fair to say the Storm peaked at the wrong time last season. They were their best prior to the Tokyo Olympic break where they led the WNBA as the #1 overall seed. But a poor 2nd half resulted in them dropping all the way down to the 4th overall seed by the end of the season.

This team had a few new pieces to get used to this season. And even more, once they added Charles to the group. But they are clearly better than they were earlier this year. Since they acquired Tina they are 4-1 with their only loss coming about 36 hours after a game on Friday night in Seattle, a cross-country flight to Atlanta, and an early game on Sunday.

Seattle’s defense has been excellent all season long. But now their offense is starting to click. They’ve put up 95 and 106 points in consecutive games. Not only is Tina Charles providing a huge spark off the bench but both Gabby Williams and Stephanie Talbot’s offense have improved. Both of those players have scored double figures in multiple games recently.

“We’re hungry. We have a goal in mind. We know that at the end of the season we want to be champions. We want to strive for that all the time. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing, even in practice, we want to go hard and make sure we’re doing everything to the best of our abilities and that’s what you saw tonight.” Loyd told the media after the game.

Looking at the team you always feel good about getting points from Stewie and Jewell on most nights. Now with Ezi and Tina, you’re expecting strong production from at least one of them if not both. And then if you’re getting double-digit scoring from one of your Small Forwards it just puts Seattle in another category.

Gabby Williams goes by “Spooky G” on Twitter. And things are definitely getting spooky for the rest of the league if Seattle can continue to play like this.

We’ll see how good this team truly is. The rest of their schedule is no joke. They will be tested as they’ll face both Chicago and Washington two more times each, all on the road. They’ll also face Connecticut, Las Vegas, and Minnesota in road games as well. In total, 8 of their final 13 games will be away from Climate Pledge Arena.

Seattle is 6-4 on the road this season but 6-2 in their last 8 road games. Coach Quinn talked to them about the importance of being road warriors and I spoke with her about that after the game.

“It’s important. In this league, winning on the road is part of being a good team. Understanding that when you find ways to win on the road that’s a good sign. Going on these road trips we want to leave with more wins than losses. We did that on both of our road trips. There was another layer of focus, especially today. For our team to figure out how to win in tough environments and to set us up for post-season play. Understanding how the vibe and the aura are on the road. It’s important to maximize that during the season as well.” Coach Quinn told me.

Jersey Count

I am convinced someone stole the team’s Green and Gold Explorer jerseys and I promise it wasn’t me. Someone needs to put out an MIA flyer for them. Seattle has not worn them since early June. Instead, the Storm were back in their Green and White “Heroine” jerseys. They pick up another win and improve to 8-3 on the season while wearing this uniform combination. Overall, the Storm improved to 15-8, and with the win, they move ahead of the Connecticut Sun (14-8) in the standings. Seattle is now third overall behind the Chicago Sky (16-6) and the Las Vegas Aces (15-7). The Storm are just 1/2 game behind the Aces now and will play them two more times late in the season in August.

Records per jersey type this season:
Rebel: 6-2
Explorer: 1-3
Heroine: 8-3
Overall Record: 15-8

Up Next

For Sue Bird, Jewell Loyd, and Breanna Stewart - it’ll be the WNBA All-Star game on Sunday. The other Storm players will get a little bit of rest but then things pick right back up on Tuesday, July 12th at 12:00 PM as Seattle will host the Dallas Wings. That’s Kids Camp day so make sure you bring some earplugs!

Notes:
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Photo Credits to Neil Enns/Seattle Storm/WNBA Photography Team
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