Storm rally to win OT thriller over the Dallas Wings 100-97 (Free Edition)
A historic performance by Breanna Stewart with the help of Jewell Loyd and Jordin Canada leads Seattle to a big win in Texas.
(Arlington, Texas) - On a night when Breanna Stewart made history, the Seattle Storm won a highly competitive game against the Dallas Wings in an overtime thriller 100-97.
Breanna Stewart made history in a couple of different ways. She became the 4th fastest player in league history to reach the 2,500 point milestone. And Stewart is now the fastest player in WNBA history to score 2,500 points and collect 1,000 rebounds in her career. Stewart reached the milestone in 125 games. Former Storm legend, Lauren Jackson, previously held the record accomplishing the feat in 136 games.
The group of players that reached 2,500 points faster than Breanna Stewart are Cynthia Cooper (117 games), Seimone Augustus (120), and Elena Della Donne (124). Between them and Lauren Jackson, that’s some good company Stewart is hanging around with.Â
While that was certainly the big story of the game for Stewie, it wasn’t the only one. Breanna Stewart’s stat line of 36 points, 11 rebounds, and five blocked shots is only the 5th time in WNBA history where a player has put up those numbers in a game.
But this game wasn’t just about Breanna Stewart. Stewart got a lot of help from Jewell Loyd and Jordin Canada.
Loyd had 25 points, led the team in assists with six, and was tied for 2nd on the team with eight rebounds in the game. Through four games Loyd is averaging 21.8 PPG, 4.8 RPG, and 4.8 APG.
Jordin Canada had her second straight excellent game off the bench. She had the third-most points for Seattle with 14 points on 50% (5-10) shooting from the field. Canada also had five assists and zero turnovers in the game. She hit 4-4 from the foul line including some crucial free throws late in the game. No shot was bigger than Canada’s final basket of regulation, a floater in the lane as she sent the game into OT at 86-86.
Not surprisingly, Arike Ogunbowale led the Wings in scoring with 28 points on 43% (10-23) field goal shooting. Ogunbowale also had seven rebounds and six assists in the game. Arike wasn’t the only former Notre Dame player to have a big impact for Dallas. Marina Mabrey had a career-high 26 points on 56% (10-18) FG shooting. Including 6-14 from three-point range. Mabrey also had eight rebounds and five assists.
Game Breakdown
The Storm finally got off to a strong start for the first time this season. Seattle knocked down multiple three-pointers and Breanna Stewart and Candice Dupree also got into the action with the Storm leading 12-5 early in the game. With that hot start, the Storm shot 63% (5-8) from the floor. Stephanie Talbot hit back-to-back corner baskets to give Seattle the seven-point lead early.
A heads-up play by Breanna Stewart and Jordin Canada resulted in an easy two for the speedy point guard. After a beautiful block by Stewart on the number one pick Charlie Collier that forced the jump ball, Stewie won the tip and tipped it to a place that allowed Canada to race the length of the court for a wide-open layup. Seattle led 21-13 with about 3 minutes left in the first quarter. Mercedes Russell gave them a free throw to give Seattle their largest lead of nine points at 22-13.
Both teams had some good offensive looks in the first quarter. The Wings finished the first period on a 10-5 run, but it was the Storm that led 27-23 after one. Seattle shot 45% (9-20) while Dallas shot 43% (9-12). Breanna Stewart and Marina Mabrey led their teams in scoring with eight points each.
Jordin Canada had a beautiful midrange jumper where she split two defenders. On the very next possession, she was able to hound Moriah Jefferson that caused Jefferson to mishandle a pass out of bounds.
The scoring dipped only slightly, but both teams battled back and forth. The Wings were able to tie the game at 40-40 with an Arike Ogunbowale free throw. The Storm quickly took the lead back with a three-pointer. A beautiful shot by Arike and then a three by Marina Mabrey gave the Dallas Wings the lead for the first time in this game at 45-43 with about two minutes left.
Mabrey did a tremendous amount of damage against the Storm leading all scorers with 16 points in the first half. She shot 6-9 FG including 4-7 from the three-point range. Breanna Stewart kept Seattle in a good position by scoring 15 first-half points. However, she wasn’t as efficient going 6-14 from the floor (1-3 from beyond the arc).
The Wings shot slightly better in the first half going 16-36 (44%) and 5-12 (42%) from long distance. Seattle went cold late in the 2nd quarter which allowed Dallas to take the one-point lead into the half. The Storm shot 16-38 (42%) and 5-14 (36) from beyond the arc. Dallas held a small 21-17 edge in rebounds
Towards the end of the second quarter, Breanna Stewart had one of the most impressive rejections I’ve seen in a long time!
Dallas finished the half on a 10-5 run to take a 45-44 lead at the break.
Both teams were a little reckless taking difficult shots instead of making that extra pass for an open look to begin the 3rd quarter. Each team had several missed shots, many from long range.
The Storm scored the first four points of the third period to regain the lead at 48-45. But the Wings immediately responded, Kayla Thorton hit a three and another midrange shot, then Arike Ogunbowale hit a three and drew a foul to take a three-point lead again at 55-52.
In the third quarter, Breanna Stewart knocked down a pair of free throws that gave her 20 points on the game. This was important because it meant Stewart was the 4th fastest player in WNBA history to score 2,500 points in her career (126 games played) and the fastest player in WNBA history to score 2,500 points and collect 1,000 rebounds.
Seattle outscored Dallas 22-16 in the third quarter to take a 66-61 lead going into the final period.
They got Candice Dupree a few looks on the offensive possessions early in the fourth quarter and she was able to score four points on a nice up and under move and then two more at the foul line. Dupree finished the game with eight points and eight rebounds.
Isabelle Harrison had a beautiful spin move to cut Seattle’s lead back down to five at 70-65 with about eight minutes to play. You can check out that highlight and others from Dallas below.
A couple of minutes later, Dupree had a beautiful pass to Jewell Loyd who caught the ball in midair and laid it up for the alley-oop.
With Seattle leading 76-67 with under six minutes to play, Marina Mabrey knocked down another silky smooth three-pointer to cut Seattle’s lead back down to six points. It gave Dallas life as the Storm would struggle over the final five minutes of the game.
The two teams exchanged baskets with Marina Mabrey knocking down another midrange jumper and then Breanna Stewart curling off a screen for a beautiful layup on the other end to keep Seattle up seven at 79-72 with under five to play.
Dallas was trailing by just three, they had a 3-on-1 fast break opportunity with only Breanna Stewart back to defend. And yet Stewie was able to stop it and forced a turnover on the Wings. That would become a critical stop in the game just a few minutes later.
The Storm had a five-point lead with roughly two minutes left to play. But they allowed Dallas to scratch and claw their way back by giving up offensive rebounds in three consecutive possessions. The first was off a missed shot by Arike, where Isabelle Harrison hustled to collect the board and immediately went to work in the low post getting the layup. During the next possession, Marina Mabrey missed a three but Ogunbowale was able to snag the rebound, dribble out to the three-point line and tie the game (81-81) with a three of her own. Seattle then had their second shot clock violation in the final two minutes of the game. Lastly, Isabelle Harrison got a good look from the sideline but missed. Fortunately, for Dallas, Kayla Thorton got the offensive rebound and put-back layup to put the Wings ahead by two at 83-81 after trailing by nine earlier in the quarter.
With 33 seconds left and the Storm trailing by two points, Candice Dupree mishandled the inbounds pass and may have accidentally knocked it into the backcourt which forced her to allow Dallas to pick up the loose ball (to avoid a backcourt violation). Dupree was able to tie up Kayla Thorton for the jump ball but Dallas would win the tip.
The Wings went on an 18-5 run to take a four-point lead at 85-81 with just 19 seconds remaining in the game. Seattle then raced down the court, Jordin Canada delivered a crosscourt pass to Jewell Loyd who was wide open in the opposite corner who then buried the three to cut Dallas’ lead to just one at 85-84 with 11 seconds remaining. Mercedes Russell also delivered a beautiful screen to free Loyd up on that possession.
Kayla Thorton missed the first of two free throws before quietly knocking down the second to give the Wings an 86-84 lead with nine seconds remaining. Seattle called a timeout and advanced the ball to midcourt. Sue Bird got the ball into Breanna Stewart, who handed the ball off to Jordin Canada who curled off a subtle Stewart screen. Canada got dribble penetration and put up a floater that bounced off the back of the iron and fell through the net to send the game to overtime.
Overtime
Kayla Thorton put the Wings up two early with a midrange jumper. Thorton had a very nice game for Dallas with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Isabelle Harrison also had a double-double off the bench with 16 points and 11 rebounds. But Breanna Stewart and Jewell Loyd were able to score for Seattle to tie the game at 90-90.
On the next possession, Marina Mabrey collected a deflected pass near midcourt and then shot a three-pointer from the Dallas Wings logo nearly 40 feet away from the basket. It was an absurd shot choice considering there were still 10 seconds left on the shot clock, but Mabrey calmly sank the 40-footer to put Dallas back up 93-90.
Breanna Stewart scored eight of the team’s 14 points in OT. Both teams swapped leads multiple times in the final 90 seconds of the game. Stewart would answer, then Arike would respond for Dallas, Jewell would score, and then Harrison would score to put the Wings back up. Seattle finally regained the lead for good with a pair of free throws by Stewart.
With under 20 seconds to play, Jordin Canada forced Ogunbowale into an offensive foul which was crucial to give the Storm the ball back to seal the victory. Canada was then fouled again and would knock down both free throws to complete the comeback at 100-97.
Both Arike Ogunbowale and Moriah Jefferson had a chance to tie the game and send it into double-overtime, but fortunately for the Storm both of the shots were wide off the mark.
Additional Analysis
Wins are super important in this league no matter how they earn them. On paper, Seattle should have had a large advantage over the Wings. Dallas was missing Allisha Gray and Satou Sabally who are both overseas playing for their respective countries in the Olympic Qualifying games for 3x3 basketball. And yet, the Storm barely won this game and needed to rally in the final minute to send the game into overtime.
But this just goes to show you how talented the WNBA is. It’s why so many fans are calling for league expansion. Dallas finished 9th last season missing the playoffs by just one game. It’s unclear how good they’ll be this season but they certainly had an extremely impressive win on the road against the Los Angeles Sparks (0-2) in their first game of the season (94-71). There’s a good amount of talent on the Wings, especially when they have their full roster. They should have a legit shot to make the playoffs this season.
Dallas played tough throughout the entire game. It wasn’t that Seattle was having a bad game by any means. In a lot of ways, the Storm looked better in this game than they did in the 12-point victory over the Minnesota Lynx on Thursday. But the Wings went blow-to-blow with the defending champions.
It was good to see the Storm get out to a strong start in this game after struggling in the opening quarter in their first three games this season. More importantly than that, the team seemed more in sync in this game. Their play wasn’t nearly as sloppy and they only committed nine turnovers in the game. The more this new team can play together the better they are going to get.
Breanna Stewart and Jewell Loyd are just so special. I’m pretty sure I’ve already stated that in one of my previous game recaps but it’s worth repeating. Stewart is currently leading the WNBA in scoring at 25.8 PPG, she’s also averaging 10.5 RPG (Top 3) and has had a double-double in three of her first four games this season. Stewart is also Top 5 in blocks per game at 2.3. Meanwhile, Jewell Loyd continues to impress averaging 21.8 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 4.8 APG, and 2.3 SPG. Loyd is Top 5 in scoring and steals per game right now and Top 10 in assists (7th overall).
Seattle’s two young superstars are entering the prime of the career and they are clearly two of the best basketball players in the WNBA. I would argue they are the best 1-2 Duo in the WNBA right now. Although, I’m sure many could make the argument for either A’ja Wilson and Liz Cambage or A’ja Wilson and Chelsea Gray. But as of right now, no two players are better than Breanna Stewart and Jewell Loyd.
Lastly, I will be very interested to see how the rotations work once the team gets more experience together. In four games, we’ve had four separate starting lineups. Obviously, some of that is impacted by Katie Lou Samuelson leaving after the second game of the season to participate in Team USA activities. But it also has to do with whether or not the coaches want to start Candice Dupree or bring her off the bench.
And I’m really not sure what’s the best role with Dupree on this team and I think even the coaches are trying to figure that out right now. She had a solid game on Saturday against Dallas scoring eight points and grabbing eight rebounds. She gives them another consistent scorer at one of the post positions and she’s a decent rebounder. But she doesn’t really excel in the transition game that Seattle loves to play and there are going to be situations where she struggles defensively.
The larger concern from my perspective is what this means for Ezi Magbegor. Magbegor played just 13 minutes against Minnesota and only six minutes on Saturday against Dallas. She’s had just two points total in the past two games. But when she played 26 minutes in a start against Las Vegas, she put up 14 points and 13 rebounds.
Magbegor is arguably one of the five most important players on the Storm roster for their long-term future. She should be getting more minutes than she has over the past two games. But right now it appears she’s behind Breanna Stewart, Candice Dupree, and Mercedes Russell on the depth chart. Hopefully, Coach Hughes and the rest of the staff will find ways to get her more playing time as the season progresses.
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