Stewart, Loyd, lead Seattle past Indiana 88-73 (Free Edition)
Breanna Stewart scored 28 points while Jewell Loyd added 18 to give Coach Noelle Quinn her first career WNBA Victory.
(Everett, WA) - The Seattle Storm improve to a league-best 6-1 on the season after defeating the Indiana Fever 88-73. It was head coach Noelle Quinn’s first career WNBA victory. The win is Seattle’s 5th in a row. The Fever fall to 1-8 on the season.
Seattle was led by the 28 points of Breanna Stewart. Jewell Loyd gave Seattle 18 points including 4-7 FG from beyond the three-point line. Sue Bird was the only other Storm player to score in double figures with 12. Bird also had a game-high eight assists. Mercedes Russell led the team in rebounding with 11. The Storm got 21 points from their bench led by Candice Dupree who had eight.
Indiana kept the game competitive never allowing the Storm to blow them out as they did against Las Vegas in back-to-back games last week. However, they were never able to regain the lead after losing it midway through the first quarter. They did have balanced scoring with four players scoring in double figures, but no player had more than 12 points. Teaira McCowan was the best player for Indiana scoring 12 points and pulling down 15 rebounds. She also had three blocked shots and altered several others. Jessica Breland (12 points), Danielle Robinson (11 points), and Tiffany Mitchell (10 points) were the other Fever players to score in double figures.
Game Breakdown
Two things stood out early in this game. The Seattle Storm struggled against the Indiana Fever last season. The Fever were one of only three teams to beat Seattle last year. The Storm also struggled against Danielle Robinson who played for the Las Vegas Aces last season. Both of those things were apparent in the early minutes of Tuesday night’s game as Danielle Robinson led the Fever out to a 5-0 run.
Breanna Stewart got the Storm going scoring the team’s first four points. A Jewell Loyd three-pointer tied the game at 11-11
Seattle used a pair of triples from Jewell Loyd and Breanna Stewart to take a 19-13 lead with a little over two minutes remaining in the quarter.
The Fever cooled off a bit as the Storm took a 25-16 lead after the first quarter. Seattle finished the quarter on a 19-5 run after trailing 11-6 early on.
Breanna Stewart (11 points) and Jewell Loyd (10 points) did almost all of the damage. Seattle held the Fever to under 39% (7-18) shooting from the floor.
Candice Dupree gave the Storm a nice boost off the bench scoring six points in the first half.
Sue Bird came in and immediately hit a three in the second to put Seattle up 11 at 36-25.
The biggest thing that stood out in the 2nd quarter was the Fever’s Teaira McCowan’s ability to alter several shots in the paint. She officially had two blocks in the first half, but she altered several other shots while in the game.
Seattle shot very poorly from two-point range going 9-25 from the floor for 36%. They did shoot 5-10 (50%) from beyond the arc and 40% total in the first half.
Indiana was down 12 points in the 2nd quarter but used several drives for easy layups to cut Seattle’s double-digit lead to just five points at the midway point. The Storm led 43-38 after two quarters.
Breanna Stewart led the team with 16 points in the first half. While Jewell Loyd added 10 points (all in the first quarter). Danielle Robinson led the Fever in scoring with nine points. Teaira McCowan added seven points and eight rebounds through the first two quarters.
The Storm regained a 10 point lead after Loyd hit a three and Stewie knocked down a pair of free throws to put Seattle 48-38.
Both teams made the occasional runs against one another.
Robinson sank both free throws and the Fever immediately scored another basket to cut Seattle’s lead to six points at 50-44.
The home team got some transition baskets after that to pull back up by 12 which forced a timeout by Indiana with Seattle leading 56-44.
Seattle pushed their lead to 15 points after Breanna Stewart knocked down one of three free throws, but the Storm got the offensive rebound where Stewie took the ball straight to the cup.
The Fever made another run with most of Seattle’s starters on the bench. They cut the Storm’s 15 point lead down to nine at the end of the third. Seattle led 61-52.
Epiphanny Prince hit a three to begin the 4th quarter and put the Storm up 12 at 64-52. However, a quick 5-0 run by Indiana cut Seattle’s lead down to seven and forced the Storm to take a timeout. After the timeout, Breanna Stewart and Sue Bird returned. Loyd hit a three and Bird hit a midrange jumper to put the Storm back up 12.
Three-pointers by Breanna Stewart and Stephanie Talbot put the Storm up 14 points with under 90 seconds left in the game.
Ultimately, Seattle prevailed 88-73 to hand Indiana their 8th loss of the season already.
Additional Analysis
This was a little bit of an odd game. Besides Indiana’s early 5-0 and 11-6 start to the first quarter, Seattle led the entire way. Once they tied the game up at 11-11 with 4:24 left to play in the 4th quarter, the Fever never regained the lead. Seattle led by nine after one, five at the break, and nine points again heading into the 4th quarter. The Storm carried double-digit leads multiple times throughout the 2nd half. And yet, occasionally Indiana would make a run and cut the lead to seven or five. They threatened to regain the lead, but Seattle would always respond with a three or a 5-0 run, etc.
Seattle’s defense played well in limiting the Fever to just 73 points on 39% field goal shooting (29-74). But the Storm weren’t able to force Indiana into very many turnovers (just 10). Seattle had just five steals in the game. And they weren’t able to speed up their pace or get out in transition like they normally do in games.
Another thing that stands out to me is that the Indiana Fever simply don’t have that dominant scorer that can give them 20-30 points a night on a regular basis. I think this is the biggest reason for the team’s struggles over the past few seasons. They have several nice players. Tiffany Mitchell, Kelsey Mitchell, Teaira McCowan, Victoria Vivians, etc. But none of them are elite scorers. The Fever have only scored above 80 points in two of their nine games played so far this year. They currently average 76.0 PPG which is 10th of 12 (or third-worst in the league).
They really need a scorer on their team like Betnijah Laney. It is ironic because they had Laney on their roster in 2019, but she only averaged 5.6 PPG that season despite starting 27 games and playing 26 minutes a game. It’s unfortunate for the Fever that Laney would then go on to have back-to-back breakout seasons with the Atlanta Dream last year and the New York Liberty this season. Laney is averaging 22.3 PPG this year after winning the MIP award in 2020 with the Dream.
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