Storm shoot lights out, down Dream at home

Published 10:49 pm Saturday, June 27, 2026

SEATTLE — The good energy is back for the Seattle Storm.

Late in a Saturday home matchup with a solid Atlanta Dream squad, the Storm (5-15, 14th in Women’s National Basketball Association) found themselves up 14 with under 90 seconds to play. With the game practically in hand, rookie guard Flau’jae Johnson wasn’t quite done.

She snuck up on Dream guard Isobel Borlase as she brought the ball up the floor for Atlanta, poking the ball away for a smooth steal. The 22-year-old guard, known for her outspoken personality, stuck her tongue out to the crowd with the ball in hnad, bringing the fans to their feet.

”It just made me emotional,” Johnson said of the response from the over 13,000 fans, who had just watched Seattle go through a franchise-worst 11-game losing streak before Thursday’s win over New York. “(The fans) really love us… they know it’s a process and it means so much that they spend their hard-earned money and their time.”

Johnson (11 rebounds) finished with 24 points on 9-for-12 shooting, nearly topping the career-high 28 points she posted on Thursday. Her rookie running mate, forward Awa Fam, put up a career-high 21 points on 5-for-6 shooting from long distance.

Second-year rising star Dominique Malonga had another solid game, posting a 16-point, 11-rebound double-double while point guard Natisha Hiedeman had 20 points and six assists. Fellow veteran Jade Melbourne also posted 10 points and five assists as the Storm shot 60% from the field and 61% from 3-point land.

The younger Storm were tested by a Dream team (12-7, 5th) that ranks among the best at forcing turnovers in the WNBA early and often. Malonga (6), Fam (4) and Johnson (4) combined for 14 of the Storm’s 17 turnovers. While they kept the giveaways to a minimum in the second half, the Storm won possessions back with a 34-26 rebounding advantage against a strong rebounding Atlanta squad led by star forward Angel Reese (17 points, 9 rebounds).

Johnson consistently crashed the glass to secure rebounds, leveling the playing field.

“I think it’s just a mindset,” first-year Seattle coach Sonia Raman said of her team’s recent turnaround on the glass. “It’s mostly a lot of emphasis, and a lot of understanding of, we were doing a lot of things well and not finishing possessions… credit to them for getting better in that department.”

The Dream were paced by their star backcourt of Rhyne Howard (27 points) and Allisha Gray (15 points), but ultimately couldn’t match Seattle on a 24% shooting night from range.

Coming off a game in which Seattle led for the majority of the action, the Storm picked up where they left off with a 12-0 run to open Saturday’s action.

Fam led the charge, knocking down three catch-and-shoot triples to punish late Dream closeouts. By the end of the night, she’d become the first rookie in WNBA history to post 15 or more points on 65% shooting from the field and from 3-point distance in three straight games.

“I’m just really focused on my 3-point shot,” Fam, who joined the team late from Spain as the No. 3 overall pick this season, said. “I feel comfortable, and if you give me space, I’m going to shoot, of course.”

The Dream answered with an 8-0 run of their own, getting their first points at the 5:30 mark of the first quarter on some Reese free throws. The Storm closed the quarter up eight points as Johnson got on the board with a pair of free throws and an easy layup. A triple from reserve center Stefanie Dolson (5 points, 3 assists) and a strong cut to the rim for Melbourne rounded out the scoring for Seattle in the opening stanza.

As the second quarter got underway, Howard missed the Dream’s ninth straight triple. The three-time All-Star guard proved the drought to be temporary, knocking down three 3s in two minutes as the Dream pulled within three points.

But with two minutes to play in the half, the 6-foot-4 Fam emphatically blocked Reese out of the baseline to ignite an anxious fanbase. From there, Johnson scored two strong baskets off creative triple-threat fakes to help the Storm restore a seven-point lead at halftime.

The Storm continued their siege in the third, as Johnson knocked down a midrange jumper plus the foul to get things going. Despite an and-1 layup from Reese on the other end, the Storm continued to play in transition with a catch-and-shoot triple from Johnson to extend the lead to 13.

Hiedeman went on to hit two more triples as Seattle got out to an 11-for-17 start from 3-point land to take a 12-point lead into the final quarter.

Reserve guard Zia Cooke (6 points) started the fourth with a show-stopper, crossing over into a step-back and-1 3-pointer to put Seattle up 16. The Dream, third-place finishers a season ago, didn’t budge.

Atlanta sparked an 8-0 run by drawing fouls close to the rim to cut the advantage to eight. With the Storm clinging to that advantage midway through the quarter, Malonga picked up her fifth foul to put her one mistake away from fouling out of the game.

After an unsuccessful challenge from Raman to get that foul off the board, the Storm were forced to weather a few clutch minutes without their phenom.

They did just fine, as Johnson found the rim on a quick burst to the rim, then hit a contested step-back jumper to keep the lead at 10. Melbourne drew a charge on the other end to keep the crowd loud.

From there, Fam knocked down her fifth triple to push it to 13, followed by an open layup from Malonga to push it to 15. Free throws from Hiedeman moments later put the finishing touches on the Storm’s largest lead of 17.

“We just need to show what we can do,” Fam, 20, said. “We are a young team, we have that energy, we want to win, we have that competition all the time… we are here.”

But Johnson, channeling her impression of New York Knicks guard Jose Alvardo’s tendency to sneak up on opponents for timely steals, picked Dream guard Isobel Borlase’s pocket to seal it.

For Raman, Saturday was the latest showing of her staff playing a tighter rotation as eight players registered 10 or more minutes for the Storm as opposed to the committee approach her staff applied earlier in the season.

With All-Star center Ezi Magbegor ramping back from a foot injury that’s held her out for the start of the season, Raman likes where her young team is so far.

“Everything that group does, the collectiveness of that locker room is really important,” Raman said. “We’re lucky we have a situation like that.”

The Storm will be back in action at Phoenix on July 2 before returning home on July 4 for a grudge match with the expansion Portland Fire.