Nneka Ogwumike tied her season high with 26 points on 10-for-14 shooting Friday night, leading the host Seattle Storm to 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.
Seattle’s Skylar Diggins-Smith had 10 points and 12 assists. Jewell Loyd added 14 points while Ezi Magbegor chipped in 10 points with eight rebounds for the Storm (15-8), who improved to 6-2 on their nine-game homestand.
With Napheesa Collier out due to a foot injury for Minnesota (16-7), Kayla McBride led the way with 27 points. No other Lynx 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, which led 72-56 entering the final period.
Lynx 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.
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 Storm 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.
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