There’s no such thing as a “must-win” game in the middle of the regular season. But for pride’s sake, it felt like a must-win for the Seattle Storm on Thursday night in Atlanta. Coming off an 84-57 drubbing to the expansion Golden State Valkyries last Sunday, the Storm sat for three long days between games, pondering what went wrong.
Seattle put San Francisco in the rearview against the Dream, however, leveraging a Skylar Diggins game-winning layup in the waning moments to win 80-79 and improve to 11-7 on the season.
THE SKYLAR DIGGINS GAME WINNER 🥶 https://t.co/bCbbBP0bLO pic.twitter.com/XgNUuWXojc
— WNBA (@WNBA) July 4, 2025
It was a game that involved 28 lead changes and no lead exceeding seven points at any point, testing the mettle of Storm head coach Noelle Quinn’s veteran squad.
“The resolve showed,” Quinn said of her team, which kept multiple Dream runs from getting out of hand on the road. “I saw some improvement from our entire group to want to make sure that we buckled down in certain moments of the game.”
All-Star starter Nneka Ogwumike showed why she’s among the league’s best forwards, scoring 24 points, including seven in the fourth, and nabbing three steals. An and-one layup to cut a five-point Dream lead to two with two minutes to play, and a tough shot from the right elbow to slash the lead to two with a minute remaining highlighted an efficient 9-14 showing. With the strong performance, Ogwumike passed Storm legend Sue Bird for eighth in all-time scoring and WNBA legend Cappie Pondexter for the seventh spot with 6,815 career points.
Ogwumike had just eight points in Sunday’s loss and lamented the Storm’s struggles to cover up loose balls in the aftermath.
Thursday was quite the opposite, as the Storm forced 17 turnovers to just 11 of their own giveaways.
“We were able to secure some of those ricochets, “50-50” type of possessions, and deliver on those,” Ogwumike said. “Us being able to not feel rushed in those moments was important.”
Erica Wheeler certainly looked like she was playing at her pace, as the first-time Storm tied her season-high with 21 points and hit a huge three to cut the lead to one with 32 seconds remaining — part of a 10-point final frame.
Diggins was dealing with a sickness all week and struggled from the field, going 4-12. But the veteran hit what turned out to be the game-winner on a driving layup through contact on the left side of the rim with just over three seconds to play.
Atlanta missed half of their star backcourt in Rhyne Howard, who missed the contest. Former Storm guard Jordin Canada filled that scoring void with a career-high 25 points. Forward Brionna Jones also thrived, putting up 18 points and 10 rebounds while center Brittney Griner scored eight. But Wheeler and the Storm were more than thrilled to hold MVP candidate Allisha Gray to just 12 points.
“We know (Gray’s) their leading scorer, we did good on her. Yes, Canada got loose, but we held Gray to 12 points,” Wheeler said. “We can’t stop everybody, but we at least wanted to stop the head of the snake.”
Quinn attributed a large part of the win to Seattle’s activity in passing lanes, as her staff charted around 22 deflections in the first half alone compared to their full-game goal of 30. In the end, that activity led to 17 turnovers against a Dream team that averages 11, the lowest in the league. The Storm capitalized to the tune of 21 points off turnovers, a figure that drowned out a 51-29 rebounding disparity in favor of Atlanta, as Seattle remains among the bottom of the league in rebounding.
“It started with Ezi (Magbegor), it’s tough to defend (Griner) and Jones in the paint, and I think our on-ball pressure was good,” Quinn said. “We have a strong defensive team when we’re locked in.”
Indeed, Magbegor finished with a game-high four blocks and had two steals on a night in which the Dream didn’t deflect a shot. Gabby Williams was another force in passing lanes, finishing with two steals.
With Diggins on the mend following her game-winner, the Storm will play the second leg of its four-game road trip against the defending champion New York Liberty in Brooklyn on Sunday morning.
This story originally appeared at qasimsports.medium.com. Follow Qasim Ali on X.com at @qasimasports.
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