Seattle, WA – In the rematch of their Tuesday, June 27th matchup in Minnesota that saw the Lynx largely control their matchup, the Seattle Storm battled late to force overtime before ultimately falling. Despite Jewell Loyd’s 41-point game and a solid statistical night from the field, the Storm tallied their eleventh loss of the year and still struggle with some of the late game moments that they’ve seen in all but two of those defeats. While Seattle did see big contributions from Loyd, Ezi Magbegor, and Sami Whitcomb off the bench, the Storm didn’t get consistent scoring from the rest of their rotation and missed rookie forward Jordan Horston for another game with a lingering shoulder injury.
Early on in this game, the story in terms of scoring prowess was about Minnesota’s Diamond Miller who helped the Lynx build an eight-point lead after the first quarter. Miller ended that quarter with the game lead in points at nine while also tallying one of each of the key individual statistics, instantly making an impact as the Storm tried to find their footing. On the other end of things, Jewell Loyd was going to be outdone as she poured in seven points while adding four rebounds to help her team in an area that they’ve struggled in for the past few years. While those two players, both with first names relating to gems, had quality starts to the night, Loyd was the one who continued her performance and ultimately showed out for a career night. Loyd went on to score a career-high 41-points on the night with nine-rebounds to flirt with a double-double.
“I think I got to my spots. I wouldn’t say I was too efficient, I missed a lot of easy ones, but just being aggressive,” Jewell Loyd, Seattle Storm guard, on her career night.
Despite Seattle getting the 40-piece from Loyd, the team shot somewhat poorly from the field in the second half and had to battle through a gritty fourth quarter to force overtime. A Jewell Loyd floater with 21 ticks left in the game tied things up, and while Seattle did get a final opportunity to end things off after a Lynx turnover, Loyd’s three-pointer from 44 feet out missed and we headed to extra basketball. Twice during the five-minute overtime period, the Storm held a three-point lead but both times Minnesota was able to respond. After the Storm failed to extend a two-point lead further after a missed Loyd layup, and then turnover after the game had been tied. Lynx forward Napheesa Collier hit a tough turnaround jumper with great defense on her to give Minnesota the lead with 00.9 ticks left, and a Storm prayer at the buzzer was not answered.
“I mean, if we get a rebound. We had a lot of opportunities to get a rebound, we couldn’t. That’s something that we historically have struggled with, is rebounding. We have to get better, because that’s what it comes down to, getting stops and taking care of the ball. That’s on me,” Jewell Loyd, Seattle Storm guard, on the last few possessions of the game.
Following the second loss to Minnesota this week, the Storm will get a couple of days to try and regroup ahead of their next battle, a Sunday, July 1st battle against the New York Liberty. Despite what all the preseason predictions looked like, the Liberty haven’t necessarily cruised through the season to this point, having lost four games already and nearly falling to the Storm when these teams met back on May 30th when Breanna Stewart’s third quarter ultimately helped New York pull away. That game on Sunday tips off at 3PM PST on the CBS Sports Network.
