Storm flies too close to the Sun, loses in an upset

Published 11:15 am Wednesday, July 9, 2025

The Seattle Storm was flying high off two straight road wins against some of the league’s best squads in the Atlanta Dream and the New York Liberty. Coming into a two-game series with the Connecticut Sun, which was on a 10-game losing streak, it seemed like Seattle’s positive trend was set to continue.

The Sun, clearly frustrated with a month of losing, shot nearly 50% from the field and became one of the few teams to match the defense-oriented Storm in turnover margin at 10 apiece. Those factors, along with a 29-point, 11-rebound performance from veteran big Tina Charles, resulted in a 93-83 home win at Mohegan Sun Arena for the 3-16 Sun.

The 93 points were the second-most conceded by Seattle all season.

Storm head coach Noelle Quinn, whose squad dropped to 12-8, once again lamented Seattle’s most glaring issue: inconsistency.

“Things like this are going to continue to happen,” Quinn said. “The inconsistency is, at this point, again, very unacceptable.”

But the Storm subverted any notion of an upset bid early.

Seattle jumped out to a 17-6 lead early as Ezi Magbegor (13 points, six rebounds) scored eight first-quarter points. The Sun cut that lead to two midway through the second, with Bria Hartley (15 points) lighting up the Storm from range.

Seattle leaned on group scoring to regain its margin. Four players ended the first half in double figures, as Skylar Diggins (23 points, seven assists) finished out the second quarter with an and-one layup to push the lead to eight.

Gabby Williams (21 points) scored 14 across the second and third quarters to help Seattle outpace a surging Connecticut squad. But Williams’ matchup, rookie Saniya Rivers, stole the show in the third. Rivers scored all of her 11 points in the frame, keeping Connecticut within striking distance for a decisive fourth quarter.

In the fourth, Rivers erupted for three steals and three assists and had a plus-18 differential.

“(Rivers) did a great job getting downhill, obviously her defensive energy disrupted me quite a bit. I gotta be better with that,” Williams said.

Pair Rivers’ impactful quarter with an 11-point final frame from Charles and eight late points from Jacy Sheldon, and the Sun would regain the lead on a 27-7 run over eight minutes.

Seattle’s offense had been keeping it in the game, but with just nine points to show in the fourth, the Storm’s defensive woes were on full display.

Magbegor wasn’t able to play Charles as aggressively as Quinn would have wanted, as the All-Defensive center picked up three fouls midway through the third quarter. Magbegor would finish with five fouls as Charles scored on jump hooks, stepbacks and step-through layups all morning and into the afternoon.

Quinn called on No. 2 overall pick Dominique Malonga to be ready to match up with Charles on Friday. The French phenom, standing at 6-foot-6, played just six minutes and didn’t score in Wednesday’s loss.

“We combat (Charles) with utilizing some other length that we have on the floor with (Malonga), but she has to play better than she did today,” Quinn said. “Foul discipline is going to be very important (on Friday).

Ogwumike and Williams, who were each selected as All-Stars recently, pointed to losing the mental side of the game.

“(In) the fourth quarter, we started to panic, and I think I will be the first one to say we disrespected Connecticut today, and we got what we deserved,” Williams said.

Ogwumike looked at the game as the first leg of an aggregate, as the Storm gets set to rematch the Sun on Friday night at Climate Pledge Arena.

“That’s a blessing about this league, that you can play a team twice in a matter of 72 hours,” Ogwumike said.