The Seattle Storm continued a demoralizing trend on Sunday night, losing another close game to the Los Angeles Sparks on the road, 94-91. This loss, Seattle’s fifth in a row to drop to 16-16, was different, though. The Storm led by seven with under three minutes to play, whereas it had come up short in comeback attempts in the previous four defeats.
Los Angeles (15-16), which started Seattle’s skid on Aug. 1 with a double-overtime victory, got its decisive basket from a familiar source. Dearica Hamby (19 points, seven rebounds) scored the game-winning shot in that matchup and slipped by Storm rookie Dominique Malonga for a go-ahead and-one with five seconds remaining in this one.
Julie Allemand (five points, eight assists) got her third steal of the game on Seattle’s final possession to seal another tough loss for Storm head coach Noelle Quinn, whose squad shot a solid 47.4% from the field.
“Having these performances and not coming away with victories or wins, it is deflating. But my job is to not let (the players) stay down,” Quinn said.
Coming off its fourth straight loss on Friday, there was plenty of reason for Seattle to win in LA on Sunday afternoon. Not the least of which is the fact that Seattle owns the Sparks’ first-round pick in the 2026 draft — any LA loss ups Seattle’s chances of getting a top selection from that asset.
Regardless of whether that was on its mind, the Storm got out to a 21-5 lead on a 17-0 run in the first quarter by turning the Sparks over consistently and by getting seven early points from Nneka Ogwumike (15 points, 10 rebounds). By the end of the opening period, Seattle had forced seven LA turnovers to earn a 26-14 lead.
But, as has been the case all season, that lead disappeared in a blink. Sparks star Kelsey Plum (20 points, seven assists) and reserve Rae Burrell (eight points, three assists) got out to hot starts in the second quarter to knot the game at 29 just over three minutes into the period.
“Some of the mistakes that we made, or some of the lulls that we had in the beginning of the game are really the difference-makers,” Ogwumike said. “You can’t do that against teams, especially now when everyone is fighting for a playoff spot.”
The Storm turned the ball over seven times in the second quarter, as the Sparks gave Seattle a taste of its own medicine with active hands leading to points in transition. The result was a nine-point Sparks advantage with a few minutes to play in the half.
Seattle responded with an 8-0 run of its own, as recent All-Star acquisition Brittney Sykes (27 points, four steals) hit Seattle’s second buzzer-beater of the game to close the half.
It was part of a heroic performance from Sykes, who only joined the Storm late Wednesday after a blockbuster trade from the Washington Mystics.
With the game tied at 73 apiece and eight minutes showing on the clock, Sykes went to work. She racked up 14 points and two steals on 6-7 shooting in the final period and even blocked Hamby at the apex of her layup in a key moment. Sykes’ shot-making wowed the Sparks faithful, as she knocked down two triples in the fourth and hit two clutch layups with under a minute remaining to tie the game at different points.
Sykes scored 11 in a win over the Storm in July when she was with the Mystics, so Seattle knew what it was getting in the All-Star.
“I make a running joke, everything that I did against (the Storm), now I just do it with them. Just getting to the paint, making sure that I get open for shots,” Sykes said. “Making sure that we can get up and down and that we’re doing it on both sides.”
Considering how stagnant Seattle’s offense has been in the waning moments of recent losses, her clutch shooting was crucial.
“(Sykes) has acclimated almost seamlessly to our team; she’s been exactly what we’ve been needing,” Ogwumike said.
For as utterly mesmerizing as Sykes’ performance was, some growing pains showed.
She had five turnovers and shot just two free throws, as Quinn wants her squad to get to the charity stripe more often as a way to slow down these frantic games.
Skylar Diggins bounced back after a rare scoreless game on Friday, posting 17 points while Malonga recorded her second consecutive double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds. The rookie was sensational in her own right down the stretch, finishing through contact with confidence.
She doubled up starting center Ezi Magbegor (two points, five rebounds) on minutes with 30, as Magbegor and All-Star Gabby Williams (five points, two steals) weren’t on the floor for Seattle’s closing moments. Williams had been thrashed by the Sparks’ Rickea Jackson late in LA’s previous win over Seattle.
Quinn is trying to stay positive, by her accounts, and having four players score 15 points or more is a good place to start. But with five straight losses of a combined 17 points, the Storm needs to see a result tick go its way to break out of what is tied for the worst funk in the WNBA right now.
Sitting at .500 with 12 games to play and just a half-game lead of the Sparks for the last playoff spot, Seattle is heading into a two-game series with the third-place Atlanta Dream starting Wednesday night at home.
The Storm isn’t mathematically in “must-win” territory, but Seattle needs to start turning close moral victories into real ones if it wishes to last into the postseason.
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