It took a few games for Seattle to meld as a team, but the Storm are hitting on all cylinders and carry plenty of momentum as they travel to play the struggling Dallas Wings on Thursday in Arlington, Texas.
The Storm (8-4) have won seven of their past eight contests, including a dominating 95-79 victory at home against the Los Angeles Sparks on Tuesday.
Nneka Ogwumike paced Seattle with 26 points, with Jewell Loyd hitting for 21 and Skylar Diggins-Smith adding 19 points.
That trio contributed mightily in the 10-0 run to end the game, turning a tightly contested battle into a runaway in the final minute and a half. Ezi Magbegor led the Storm with 13 rebounds.
Seattle’s impressive run after a 1-3 start has been fueled with a defense-first mentality.
“Blue collar, work hard, hang our hat on defense, first and foremost,” Seattle coach Noelle Quinn said. “This team has really bought in to the defensive side of the basketball. We talk about being disciplined. We talk about being competitive. Those are two things we’ve been focusing on, and I think we do that at a high level.”
The Wings (3-7) will look to rebound from a 97-90 double overtime loss at home to Phoenix on Sunday that stretched their losing streak to five games. Arike Ogunbowale led the Wings with 25 points and 10 assists in the loss. Ogunbowale has been Dallas’ leading scorer in all 10 games, but she was just 9-of-27 shooting from the floor on Sunday.
Teaira McCowan added 20 points and nine rebounds for the Wings and hit a bucket in the final seconds of the first overtime to extend the game. Dallas also got 12 points from Maddy Siegrist, 11 from Sevgi Uzun, and a 10-point, 11-rebound double-double from Monique Billings.
“It’s always tough when you play a close game like this,” Siegrist said. “We’re getting a lot of end-of-game experience. From the younger players that’s all we could ask for is to try to build on it. We’re gonna take this and learn from it for sure.”
Dallas is missing key injured players Satou Sabally, Natasha Howard and Jaelyn Brown.
–Field Level Media