Skylar Diggins-Smith’s late free throws carry Storm previous Wings, 83-81

Skylar Diggins-Smith canned two free throws with 16.1 seconds left Friday night and the Seattle Storm overcame a 21-point second quarter deficit to dump the Dallas Wings 83-81 in Arlington, Texas.

Diggins-Smith, who finished with a team-high 21 points and added four steals, drove into the lane and drew contact from Teaira McCowan to earn the foul shots. Dallas had two shots on its final possession from Arike Ogunbowale, but she missed a pull-up in the lane and then air-balled an open 3-pointer from the right wing as the horn sounded.

Jewell Loyd added 15 points and six assists for Seattle (23-14), which stayed a game behind Las Vegas for the No. 4 seed in the upcoming WNBA playoffs. Nneka Oguwmike scored 12 points and Gabby Williams chipped in 10.

McCowan punished Seattle inside most of the game, finishing with game-high totals of 23 points and 15 rebounds. Satou Sabally added 18 points, seven rebounds and six assists, while Ogunbowale scored 15 points. Her 3-pointer with 33.9 seconds left tied the score at 81.

The Wings outrebounded the Storm 42-32 but committed 18 turnovers that Seattle cashed in for 27 points.

Dallas looked more like a playoff contender than Seattle did in the first half, even though it was playing for the second time in as many nights. The Wings established an 18-6 lead less than five minutes into the game and settled for a 28-19 advantage after one quarter.

Dallas kept converting for most of the second quarter and appeared on the verge of running the Storm out of the building when it upped the margin to 44-23 at the 4:22 mark on a layup by Jaelyn Brown. Its cushion was 50-37 at halftime.

Seattle suddenly turned momentum around early in the third quarter, rattling off 19 straight points to turn a 13-point deficit into a 60-54 lead. It pushed the advantage to 69-56 before Ogunbowale drilled a 3-pointer to pull the Wings within 71-63 going to the fourth period.

–Field Level Media