Storm snap franchise-worst losing streak

Published 11:22 pm Thursday, June 25, 2026

SEATTLE — The Seattle Storm were close to ending their 11-game losing streak on Tuesday in a 112-110 overtime loss to the Dallas Wings. As they have for a majority of this franchise-worst stretch, the Storm made a late push in that game, but just came up short.

Thursday’s game against a solid New York Liberty squad (12-7) presented a new challenge, as Seattle led for most of the game and was faced with the new task of preserving an advantage late. First-year coach Sonia Raman’s squad answered that challenge well, parlaying an efficient scoring fourth quarter into a 99-88 win and a 4-15 record (14th in WNBA) midway through the 44-game season.

”It’s a young group, and every day that they step on the floor, they’re learning,” Raman said. “Nothing really beats game reps, and I’ve been saying that kind of throughout, and so there’s things that happened in the game today that have happened in previous games that they’ve learned from and have been able to apply, and you can see the growth.”

Nowhere was improvement more apparent than in former LSU star and rookie first-round pick Flau’jae Johnson. The energetic guard set a career-high in scoring with 28 points in another start for Seattle, eclipsing her previous high of 20 points. She also added nine rebounds, including a key offensive board late to help put the game away, to pair with three steals.

Johnson credited longtime Seattle star Ezi Magbegor, who is yet to play this season with a foot injury, with a paradigm shift that helped the team get over the hump on Thursday.

“She was like, ‘Play like you want to win, don’t play like you scared to lose,’” Johnson said of Magbegor. “I’m like, damn, ok Shakespeare.. You learn from losses, and we done had a couple of them.”

That lesson of playing to win showed in aggressive Seattle lineup from top to bottom.

Second-year emerging star Dominique Malonga continued to shine at center for the Storm, as the French phenom put up 20 points and 10 rebounds. Malonga was coming off a career-high 37-point showing on Tuesday to become the youngest player in WNBA history to score 30 points with over 10 rebounds, surpassing league legend and reigning MVP A’ja Wilson.

“We just wanted to win,” Malonga, who is 23rd in WNBA All-Star fan voting, said of Thursday. “We were really tired of losing, and really being close in that (Tuesday) game. Instead of putting our heads down, we were like, ‘We were right there.’”

In all, it was a second straight well-rounded scoring showing for the Storm as all five starters reached double digits while winning the rebounding battle 39-28. No. 3 overall pick Awa Fam scored 15 and had 6 rebounds, veteran guard Jade Melbourne put up 18 points to pair with seven assists while point guard Natisha Hiedeman had 11 points.

The Liberty, down stars Breanna Stewart and Satou Sabally in this game, leaned on star big Jonquel Jones. The veteran finished with 26 points and eight rebounds, followed up by Leonie Fibich’s 19 points. Star guard Sabrina Ionescu had 14 points by the game’s end.

Early on, Malonga took over with seven points by the midway point of the first to force a Liberty timeout as Seattle led 13-8. Malonga finished the quarter 4-for-4, with the Storm weathering a 9-0 Liberty run to take a 28-24 lead into the second as New York hit four early triples.

The theme of the early going was controlling transition chances, as the teams took turns creating mismatches against disorganized defenses.

The second quarter got off to a much slower start as each squad turned it over in their transition chances before Johnson hit a 3-pointer off a healthy possession full of Seattle passes. Johnson continued to make the period hers, hitting a transition pull-up shot before finishing a catch-and-shoot chance generated by Hiedeman.

In the midst of the Storm run, the Liberty went cold as Jones airballed multiple shots, leading to a 48-40 Storm halftime advantage. The Storm, who led by six with under 90 seconds to play in the fourth in their Tuesday loss to Dallas, knew better than anyone that they had to keep their foot on the pedal in the third quarter.

But despite their acknowledgement of how lethargic they’ve appeared in third quarters this season, the trend continued on Thursday night.

At least it seemed.

Fam hit a midrange shot over five minutes into the frame for Seattle’s first field goal, but the Storm held the Liberty to seven points in that stretch to hold the lead at six. From there, Malonga hit a post move to score on Jones while Hiedeman splashed home a triple to push the lead back to 11. Johnson then hit a buzzer-beating 3 from the left corner to cap off a 24-20 quarter in favor of Seattle with a 12 point lead.

“We know that sometimes our third quarters cost us games,” Malonga said. “All those games… we had to come back. So we know that we don’t want to be in that position again.”

Seattle carried that momentum into the fourth, as Johnson hit another triple to equal Seattle’s largest lead of 13. Fam hit another to maintain that margin moments later.

But the Liberty, champions of the WNBA just two seasons ago, refused to go away.

They forced Hiedeman into an eight-second violation, and Ionescu made it hurt with a slick floater on the other end to cut the lead to eight with just over four minutes to play.

With the momentum threatening to shift toward the more experienced squad, Johnson hoped to continue her career night with a shot from the left corner.

The uberly confident guard had a moment of pure humility, however.

“I knew I was gonna miss the shot,” Johnson said, as the ball bounced off the near side of the rim. “Sometimes the basketball gods, they give you something… I’m gonna crash (the offensive glass).”

Indeed, Johnson was already running full tilt toward the paint before the ball even hit the rim, positioning her for a key putback basket to restore the lead to 10 with three minutes left.

After a tough layup from Melbourne and another coast-to-coast layup to cap Johnson’s big night, the home fans celebrated their team’s first win since May 24.

For now, the Storm head into a home matchup with the surging Atlanta Dream on Saturday with some added confidence.

“Very excited,” Johnson said of the team’s energy coming out of the lull-snapping win. “You can let your breath go down, chest go down, enjoy it, but just build off of it.”