Storm hammer Lynx, avert season sweep

Nneka Ogwumike tied her season high with 26 points on 10-for-14 shooting Friday night, giving the host Seattle Storm a dominating 91-63 victory over the Minnesota Lynx.

Ogwumike responded in a big way after scoring only nine points, a season low, on Wednesday against the visiting Las Vegas Aces.

Skylar Diggins-Smith had 10 points and 12 assists. Jewell Loyd added 14 points, and Ezi Magbegor chipped in 10 points with eight rebounds for Seattle (15-8), which was playing its eighth straight home game.

With Napheesa Collier out with injury for Minnesota (16-7), Kayla McBride led the way with 27 points. No other player scored more than seven. Dorka Juhasz, Collier’s replacement, scored four points and grabbed seven rebounds.

Seattle carried a 13-point lead into the second half, but McBride got Minnesota going in the third quarter. She scored 11 of the Lynx’s first 15 points of the half, the last nine on a trio of 3-pointers. The Storm’s lead was down to 10 points with about five remaining in the period.

The Storm took a timeout to regroup and went on a seven-point run, slowing down any Minnesota momentum. It was a trend on the night for Seattle.

Minnesota started the night strong, jumping ahead 9-2 lead and forcing three turnovers in the first two minutes.

However, Seattle scoring 32 of the next 45 points. The led 34-22 after Ogwumike’s jumper with 7:42 left in the second quarter. The Lynx didn’t score for the first 5:02 of the quarter and trailed by as many as 18 before halftime. Ogwumike scored 12 straight points in the burst.

Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve played the fourth quarter without McBride. Seattle capitalized further, scoring the first nine points of the period behind three straight treys by Sami Whitcomb.

The Storm averted a season sweep, having lost to the Lynx three times. Seattle also won by at least 20 points for the fourth time this season.

–Field Level Media