Seattle Storm Win Preseason Game 79-59

Short-handed Storm cruise to an easy victory over Connecticut.

(Seattle, WA) - The 2025 Seattle Storm picked up a win in their first preseason game as they defeated the Connecticut Sun 79-59. Both teams were missing several key players as the Storm were without Gabby Williams, Ezi Magbegor, and new #2 overall pick, Dominique Malonga, Meanwhile, the Sun were without Marina Mabrey, Diamond DeShields, and their top draft picks Aneesah Morrow and Saniya Rivers.

After the Sun scored the game’s first basket, the Storm quickly took the lead and never looked back. They led by 12 points at the end of the first period, by 13 points at the midway point, and by 20 points at the end of the game.

Nneka Ogwumike led the way with 18 points, five rebounds, and four assists. However, it was Li Yueru who stood out the most. Yueru finished with the game’s only double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds. Ogwumike made 4-5 FG from beyond the three-point arc. Yueru and Ogwumike combined to make 12-17 field goals (71%). As a team, the Storm shot 48% (29-60 FG). They also out-rebounded Connecticut 42-28.

Skylar Diggins and Alysha Clark also had some strong moments in the opening half. Diggins finished with nine points and Clark added seven more. Mackenzie Holmes and Zia Cooke were the two players that made the largest impact off the bench for the Storm. Holmes finished with nine points, eight rebounds, and three blocks. She also finished shooting 4-5 FG from the floor. Cooke added eight points and arguably made the play of the game when she scored on a running drive where she was also fouled. Cooke was less efficient going 0-4 FG from beyond the arc and 3-9 FG overall.

Veteran Tina Charles led the Connecticut Sun with 13 points. Haley Peters hit 3-3 FG from three and finished with 11 points. Amy Onkonkwo added 10 points and four rebounds off the bench for the road team. The Sun did not look particularly good overall. They are already projected to be one of the league’s worst teams this season and it certainly didn’t help that they were missing multiple players. To Seattle’s credit, the Storm’s defense limited Connecticut to under 20 points in three of the four quarters.

Game Breakdown

Tina Charles scored the game’s first basket with a nice short hook shot in the paint. Li Yueru scored the Storm's first basket of the preseason on a nice pick-and-roll action with Skylar Diggins. Alysha Clark knocked down a corner three. Haley Peters knocked down a couple of long distance shots for the Sun. Nneka Ogwumike hit a three from the same corner as AC. Jacy Sheldon then hit a three to cut the Storm’s lead to two.

Seattle went on an 8-2 run to extend their lead to 20-12. Yueru scored five of those points and gathered a couple of offensive rebounds in the process. The Storm added four more points on layups from Alysha Clark and Zia Cooke. Seattle led 24-12 at the end of the first period.

As she did in the first period, Tina Charles scored the first basket in the second quarter. Nneka Ogwumike responded back as the two All-Stars went at each other. Mackenzie Holmes scored the first basket of her career on a pick-and-roll with Skylar. Madison Hayes hit a corner three for Connecticut and Charles scored again down low.

Diggins scored three times in a row to put the Storm up 16 at 39-23. Nneka Ogwumike was fouled and made both free throws. Amy Okonkwo scored all six of her first-half points in the second period including 4-4 from the FT line. She also scored on a layup at the buzzer before the end of the 1st half. Seattle led 45-33 at the midway point. Nneka Ogwuike led the way for the Storm with 10 points. Tina Charles led the Sun with eight points through the first two periods.

Erica Wheeler scored off a fast break steal to begin the 2nd half. Olivia Nelson-Ododa was able to intercept a pass near midcourt and raced down the court for the easy two. Li Yueru made back-to-back baskets down in the paint. Nneka Ogwumike hit another three-pointer to put the Storm up 20 points at 57-37. Ogwumike, Yueru, and Wheeler each added scores for the Storm. Brianna Fraser scored a couple of baskets late in the quarter. Raya Marshall and Jacy Sheldon added baskets for the Sun. The Storm led 68-49 at the end of the third period.

The fourth quarter was filled with the players that are all fighting for the final spot on the roster. All of the Storm’s starters sat for the entire 10-minute period. Rookies Mackenzie Holmes and Serena Sundell both played the entire quarter. Zia Cooke played eight of the ten minutes. Holmes and Cooke combined to score nine of the team’s 11 points. Haley Peters scored six of the Sun’s 10 points over the final quarter.

Seattle essentially led wire-to-wire on their way to a 79-59 victory.

Final Box Score

Additional Analysis

Initial Starting Lineup and Substitution Notes

I was curious to see what the 2025 Storm would look like. Albeit they were short-handed with Gabby Williams, Ezi Magbegor, and Dominique Malonga all sitting out of the game for rest as they all just wrapped up overseas play recently.

The Storm’s first starting lineup for this season consisted of Skylar Diggins, Erica Wheeler, Alysha Clark, Nneka Ogwumike, and Li Yueru.

Below are some short-hand notes on the substitutions that were made throughout the game. Normally, this isn’t something I would track in an article but I was curious to see which players were getting subbed in, at what times, and for which players. Every player that was suited up to play, did play at least five minutes. Toward the fourth quarter, I stopped tracking each substitution but if you’re interested in getting an idea of Coach Quinn’s lineups and substitutions, you can read the notes below.

Zia Cooke was the first Storm player off the bench replacing Erica Wheeler.

Erica Wheeler and Lexie Brown subbed in for Skylar and AC with about 3 mins to go in the 1st period. Then AC immediately came back in to replace Nneka Ogwumike 30 seconds later.

Mackenzie Holmes replaced Li Yueru with 2 mins to go in the first period.

2nd period starters: Erica Wheeler, Zia Cooke, Lexie Brown, Nneka Ogwumike, and Mackenzie Holmes. One minute into the 2nd, Skylar Diggins subbed back in for Wheeler.

Li Yueru subbed back in for Mackenzie Holmes 2 1/2 minutes into the 2nd.

Serena Sundell subbed in for the first time with 6:06 left in the 2nd. She finished out the period.

Alysha Clark subbed in for Zia Cooke five minutes into the 2nd quarter.

Brianna Fraser replaced Nneka Ogwuike 7 mins into the 2nd quarter.

Zia Cooke replaced Skylar Diggins with just over 2 mins to play in the 2nd quarter.

Zia Cooke subbed in for Skylar to begin the 3rd period (3 mins in).

Sundell and Brianna Fraser both subbed in.

Mackenzie Holmes subbed in once Li Yueru picked up her 5th foul late in the 3rd period.

Madison Conner subbed in for the first time with about 1 min left in the 3rd period.

4th quarter starters - Serena Sundell, Madison Conner, Lexie Brown, Brianna Fraser, and Mackenzie Holmes.

Lexie Brown subbed in for Madison Conner around 3 mins in. Conner subbed back in for Brown with a few mins left in the game.

Some final notes on playing time and substitutions.

Zia Cooke led all players, playing 25 minutes in the game.

Rookies Mackenzie Holmes and Serena Sundell each played slightly over 20 minutes. While the other two rookies, Madison Conner and Jordan Hobbs both played less than 10 minutes each. Hobbs was the last player to sub in and played the least amount, playing five minutes in the 4th quarter.

Up Next

The Storm will play a scrimmage against the LA Sparks on Saturday, May 10th at UCLA. Then the regular season begins for Seattle on Saturday, May 17th at 7:00 PM against the Phoenix Mercury.

Notes:
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