Storm demolishes short-handed Sky on the road

Published 8:54 pm Thursday, July 24, 2025

It’s just one night, but the Seattle Storm can take a deep breath knowing it finally put it all together.

On the heels of an 87-63 loss against the Dallas Wings on Tuesday night that had fans questioning Seattle’s ability to beat teams under .500, the Storm showed up on the road against the 7-17 Chicago Sky on Thursday night. A 56-31 second half powered a 95-57 win over Chicago, which was short on key players in Angel Reese and Ariel Atkins. The win moves Seattle to 15-10 and fourth place in the WNBA standings.

Star guard Skylar Diggins led the way for the Storm, scoring a game-high 21 points, while All-Star Gabby Williams added to her reputation as the “French Army Knife” with 10 points, four rebounds, seven assists and three steals. The absence of Diggins, who is the “heartbeat” of the team according to fellow star Nneka Ogwumike, was obvious during Tuesday’s collapse. Her shotmaking and running of the offense is critical for what is a volatile Seattle offense, and her ability to straddle screens to knock down shots and score in transition got Seattle going with 12 first-half points.

That early scoring has been a calling card for strong wins, according to Storm head coach Noelle Quinn.

“It starts with our starters having the correct mindset and focus that it takes to get us to where we need to get to, especially a game like today,” Quinn said.

Starters Erika Wheeler (13 points) and Nneka Ogwumike (10 points) had their fair share of buckets on a night that saw six Seattle players score 10 or more points.

Two of those players came off a Seattle bench that scored just nine points last game, as rookie Dominique Malonga set a career-high in points with 14 and rebounds with 10 in just 17 minutes against a tough matchup in Kamilla Cardoso (13 points, 13 rebounds). With her performance, the 19-year-old became the youngest player in WNBA history to eclipse 100 career points and to record a double-double. First-year Storm player Lexie Brown also broke out of a tough stretch of games, scoring 12 points on 5-5 shooting.

With the memory of Tuesday’s loss still at the top of Quinn’s mind, she was pleased with the effort level her squad showed through the rotation.

“When you’re able to bring in everyone off the bench and everyone is really contributing, that does something to the feel and the vibe and the aura,” Quinn said, adding how important it was for players like Brown to see some shots go in.

That vibe was clear, as Seattle’s starters were rarely sitting down on the bench by the end of the game — they were jumping to cheer for the show their reserves were putting on.

But that joy was earned.

The Storm showed urgency from the first quarter on — Seattle won every quarter of the game. In fact, from the 5:50 mark of the second quarter to the end of the first half, Chicago didn’t score a point.

“I liked the momentum we took into halftime, we talked about that being a struggle point sometimes,” Diggins said, having watched her team give up an 8-0 run going into halftime from afar on Tuesday. “We know what we can do on offense when we’re able to play the defense how we want to play.”

Malonga, Seattle’s “baby giraffe,” as Quinn called her, went to work in the first half, finishing with six points and five rebounds in just five minutes after exiting early on a minor ankle roll. With the game well in hand by the final period, Malonga got six minutes of play in the fourth. She totaled six points and four rebounds in that stretch, a far cry from her 0-6 performance against Dallas.

“I don’t put pressure on myself when I step on the court, saying I need to have 10 or whatever. My first focus and only focus is to bring the energy every time,” Malonga said. “This first half of the season, I think it went well. I grew up, for sure.”

Malonga even hit her first career 3-pointer late in the fourth, as memories of Tuesday’s loss seemed to fade further into obscurity as the lead ballooned to 39.

The third quarter saw the Storm offense take center stage. Seattle turned three straight Sky turnovers into six points to start the half and carried a 15-1 run from the late third quarter to the mid-fourth. By the end of the game, a disruptive Seattle squad forced 20 turnovers as the Sky shot 33.9% from the field.

As far as team dynamics, Seattle scored victories in two spots they aren’t known for: bench scoring and rebounding.

Seattle won the glass 38-31 and got 30 points off the bench to Chicago’s 13. Quinn wasn’t so quick to declare a victory on the rebounding front, given that Chicago was missing the top rebounder in the league in Reese. Still, Quinn sees progress even when Seattle doesn’t dominate the boards.

“(Rebounding is) on the top of our minds, even though we haven’t won (rebounding) the last few games, I feel like we’ve been closer to winning the battle. So it’s a work in progress,” Quinn said.

The Storm will try to ride this positive energy into a tough stretch of upcoming basketball. Seattle has a day to rest before it heads to Washington D.C. to take on the Mystics on Saturday afternoon in hopes of evening that season series at one apiece.