SEATTLE — The Seattle Storm has been a team of offensive inconsistencies all season. Shooting slumps have sunk the squad in games it should be winning, but the defensive effort has never been in question. Seattle showed why in a 67-58 win over the Golden State Valkyries at home on Wednesday afternoon.
The Storm allowed just six Valkyries points in the final six-and-a-half minutes of the contest, stalling a comeback by the team from San Francisco, which the Storm were 0-2 against previously. Seattle has struggled to win the rebounding margin all season, and while the Storm lost that battle 35-33, the Storm didn’t allow a single second-chance point.
“To beat a team like the Valkyries, who present physicality at every position, you have to match or exceed that physicality, and I thought there were portions of the game where we did that consistently,” Storm head coach Noelle Quinn said.
For as well as the Storm finished on Wednesday afternoon, Quinn stressed the need for her team to get off to a hot start in the pre-game presser. 10-point opening quarters in the previous two fixtures had Seattle operating from a hole.
The Storm scored 14 in the first quarter this time around to trail by one, but parlayed a seven-point run from Nneka Ogwumike into a 17-point second frame and knotted the game up at 31 apiece going into the half.
The third quarter was the Erica Wheeler show, as the veteran scored 11 of her 15 points in the frame, including two 3s and an and-1, to rally the crowd and push the new Storm lead to eight.
Golden State’s Janelle Salaun and Kate Martin each hit timely buckets to cut the lead to four by the end of the third, as the Valkyries displayed the fight that has the first-year expansion franchise among the league’s best stories thus far.
With a collapse similar to its last loss to Washington on Sunday still very much in play, the Storm needed one final push. All-Stars Gabby Williams (four points, seven rebounds) and Skylar Diggins (10 points, six assists) both shot under 25% from the field in the game, leaving Ogwumike with closing responsibilities late.
And close she did, as the 14-year veteran went 7-8 from the free throw line en route to an 11-point closing frame. Her strong fourth quarter also resulted in the 10-time All-Star passing Candice Dupree for sixth all-time in WNBA scoring.
It was the Storm’s last game before the All-Star Break, where Seattle will be sending Ogwumike, Diggins and Williams. Wheeler, who has enjoyed a fringe All-Star season, will compete alongside Diggins in the skills contest.
Golden State’s Kayla Thornton, 32, made her first All-Star appearance this season. Seattle held the veteran to just four points, however, contesting the slasher without fouling at the rim in a relatively clean game — Golden State shot 16 free throws to Seattle’s 22.
Ezi Magbegor was her usual All-Defensive self, leading the Storm with eight rebounds and two blocks while Williams notched two steals. Rookie center Dominique Malonga didn’t play in the game, a decision Quinn attributed to matchup issues and the mobility of Golden State’s bigs.
Quinn credited her team’s ability to work around screens and refusal to switch into bad matchups for the stingy performance.
“(Golden State) didn’t get a lot of extra possessions or and-1’s or easy ones around the rim because we tried to keep our bigs on their bigs and our guards on their guards,” Quinn said. “The communication was very high.”
But as far as her team’s ability to keep that energy up game-to-game, Quinn acknowledged that the Storm could use some downtime.
“We need this break. It’s clear and evident, but we were pushing through a lot, mental and physical things,” Quinn said, still confident in her team. “We’ve won in a variety of ways this year and we gotta continue to build on that.”
For Wheeler, it was important to enter the hiatus on a good note. The high-energy veteran had given all of her teammates custom Storm necklaces at practice the day prior to bring a positive feeling to the facility.
“The last couple of games, we haven’t really been locked in, and I think today, just going into the break, we wanted to really feel good,” Wheeler said. “The gameplan was to win the game.”
Fair enough.
Ogwumike sees the break as time to focus on self-improvement within the team.
“This break comes at a nice time,” Ogwumike said. “Knowing that we have this time to reset and redefine our foundation a little bit, I think it’s gonna be helpful when we come out (of All-Star Weekend).”
The Storm will be back in action on July 22 at home against Dallas following the July 19 WNBA All-Star Game in Indianapolis.
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