It was a scene Seattle Storm observers haven’t seen much.
Not the fact that Seattle was losing to a sub-.500 squad, it’s done that more than a few times in 2025.
Instead, at the 3:28 mark of the third quarter, Storm veteran Nneka Ogwumike lost her cool. Dallas Wings forward Luisa Geiselsöder had knocked over Ogwumike, a top-10 leading scorer in league history, earlier in the possession, and with her squad in the midst of a brutal 32-15 loss of a quarter, Ogwumike retaliated.
She pulled Geiselsöder to the floor and yelled in the forward’s face, resulting in a rare technical foul for the WNBPA president. Unfortunately for Seattle, that moment of raw emotion wasn’t enough to turn the tide in a losing fight — the Storm lost 87-63.
The story of the night was a disconnected offense. The Storm finished with 18 assists, down from its average of 21, and shot 19% from 3-point range, down from its usual 34%.
The loss drops Seattle to 14-10, with the All-Star break in the rear-view mirror. To the Storm’s credit, it was missing its floor general in Skylar Diggins, who missed the contest due to personal reasons. Ogwumike seemingly tried to bring the fire of Seattle’s emotional leader in Diggins during that third-quarter moment, but the squad didn’t follow.
“It’s like our heartbeat is not here, she really pumps the blood into our team,” Ogwumike said of Diggins. “It’s not just her contributions regarding points and defense, it’s the wisdom that she comes with on the court that allows us to understand where we need to be.”
Storm head coach Noelle Quinn was still happy with Ogwumike’s effort, as the 10-time All-Star had an efficient game-high 22 points.
“I love how Nneka showed up today and what she tried to accomplish, missing (that) heartbeat like that, but it’s very difficult,” Quinn said.
Seattle made due in the early going, getting out to an 8-0 lead to start, but never leading by more than 10 in the game. Seattle forced five first-quarter turnovers and 12 by the half in its usual disruptive flurry.
But Dallas always had an answer.
Facing a 10-point deficit with two minutes to play in the first half, the Wings rattled off an 8-0 run by capitalizing on an uncharacteristically slow Seattle transition defense. It didn’t matter that Gabby Williams was on a triple-double watch with 10 points, eight assists and five rebounds by halftime. It didn’t matter that Seattle was winning the turnover battle 12 to two.
The Wings just had the juice going into the second half on this particular game.
Three-time All-WNBA selection Arike Ogunbowale shook off what’s been a tough shooting season to score 11 of her 20 points in the third on 3-4 splits from deep. Rookie of the Year frontrunner Paige Bueckers had just two points in the first half, but put up nine in the third to punctuate a stretch that saw the Wings go from trailing by two to leading by 15 with the final period left to play. Former Storm center Li Yueru continued her strong stint with the Wings by putting up eight points and 10 rebounds on the game.
Quinn didn’t have many answers for her squad as the deficit grew.
“When things aren’t going your way, you have to be proficient in something. Whether it’s defensively or efficient offense, we were just not in either of those things. We woke Arike up,” Quinn said, referring to the uncontested looks at the rim that got the star in a rhythm.
Tiffany Mitchell got her first start due to Diggins’ absence, but she and fellow Storm starter Erica Wheeler combined to shoot 3-17 from the field. Center Ezi Magbegor continued what’s been a nice stretch of offensive games, going 8-8 from the charity stripe en route to a 12-point, nine-rebound game.
But the last piece of this puzzle had nothing to do with the five who took the floor to begin the contest. Seattle’s non-starters combined for just four points in the competitive portion of the game (before all starters were subbed out at the 4:44 mark of the fourth quarter). Alysha Clark and Dominique Malonga went 0-8 combined, while Lexie Brown and Zia Cooke had the four combined points off the bench in that competitive portion.
The result?
Tuesday marked the 10th straight game in which Seattle’s bench has been outscored.
The turnaround from the All-Star festivities in Indianapolis was also tough on the team as the entire WNBA comes to terms with the new 44-game season, up from 40 last year. Ogwumike, Diggins and Williams all participated in the All-Star Game on Saturday, and Ogwumike voiced her displeasure with the condensed schedule.
“I don’t think it was OK for anyone,” Ogwumike said of the turnaround. “In my 10 All-Stars I’ve been to, I think this was by far the most minimal turnaround that every team has ever had.”
Unfortunately for Ogwumike and company, the hits will just keep on coming.
Seattle is right back to work on Thursday in Chicago, as it will have a game every other day for the next five days.
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