Breanna Stewart scores game-high 25 points to lead Seattle to fourth straight win
SEATTLE—Breanna Stewart scored a game-high 25 points and the bench came alive in the second half to lead Seattle to an 81-65 win over Indiana on Sunday afternoon at the Climate Pledge Arena.
The Storm clinched their fourth straight win and improved to 17-8 on the season, while Fever falls to 5-22 after losing 10 in a row.
Stewart carried Seattle through the first half, scoring 17 of their 25 points in the first 20 minutes. She finished the game with a season-high four threes and added eight rebounds, three assists and a steal. Jewel Loyd added 15 points along with five rebounds throughout Tina Karl came off the bench and scored 15 points – 13 in the second half – on 6-of-11 shooting.
Charles’ second-half contributions defined Storm-Bank’s impressive game as Seattle earned 22 of their 39 second-half points from their bench staff. Next to Karl, Stephanie Talbot had seven points, three rebounds, two assists, a steal and an emphatic block that she turned into a hard layup at the other end.
Indiana started the first quarter hot, opening an early 11-8 lead four minutes later. Seattle pressed defense and kept the fever down to just 1-in-7 while forcing three turnovers to ignite an 18-4 run over the final six minutes of the quarter and taking a 26-15 lead after a.
Again, Indiana opened strongly in the second quarter, beating the storm early at 8-2. Seattle, however, slowly faltered and landed a 14-3 run midway through the period and led 42-31 at halftime.
The story stayed the same in the third quarter as the Fever opened on a 10-2 run to cut Seattle’s 44-41 lead to three. The Storm responded again with great success with an 11-4 run – with Charles scoring seven straight – to lead 55-48 in fourth place.
In the first three quarters, Seattle had been outplayed 29-12 in the first four minutes of the quarter, but beat Indiana 44-19 in the last six minutes of each quarter. But Seattle didn’t let Indiana get off to a hot start in fourth, jumping out with a 10-2 run to open a 15-point lead three minutes later and didn’t look back. Indiana would be no closer than 13 to victory the rest of the way.
The Storm held a 41-37 rebound advantage and improved to 9-0 as he passed his opponent. Seattle also continued its recent trend of dominating in color, beating the Fever 44-36 in color points. The Storm has averaged 186 points over their last four games, averaging 46.5 points per game, after averaging 28.3 points in the paint over their last 21 games.
Seattle is headed back for a few games, starting with an early game in Chicago on Wednesday, July 20th. Tipoff is at 9:00 a.m. PT.
—— StormBasketball.com ——
|
TEAM |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
SCORE |
RECORDING |
HIGH PTS |
HIGH REB |
HIGH BRANCH |
|
INDIANA |
fifteen |
16 |
17 |
17 |
65 |
5-22 |
N Smith, 15 |
N Smith, 9 |
Mitchell/Robinson, 4 |
|
SEATTLE |
26 |
16 |
13 |
26 |
81 |
17-8 |
B. Stewart, 25 |
Williams/Stewart, 8 |
S. Vogel, 6 |
HISTORY OF THE GAME
After Seattle led by as much as 16 in the first half, Indiana reduced the deficit to three in the third quarter before the Storm ended the game with a 33-20 run. That included the Storm opening the fourth quarter on a 10-2 run to build a 15-point lead.
KEY GAME STATS
- Storm-Bank contributed 27 points in the game, 22 of them over a 12:50 second-half spread. The bench beat the starters 22-17 in the second half.
- Seattle had a 41-37 rebound advantage and improved to 9-0 as they passed their opponent.
- The Storm also continued its recent trend of dominating in color, outperforming the Fever 44-36 in color points. Seattle has totaled 186 points over their last four games, averaging 46.5 points per game, after averaging 28.3 points in the paint over their last 21 games.
STORM HIGHLIGHTS
- Breanna Stewart scored 25 points in 9-of-21 shooting, surpassed 20 points for the 11th time this season and reached double digits in her 23rd straight game. Stewart tied her season-high four three-pointers and added eight rebounds, three assists and a steal.
- Tina Karl had 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting off the bench, including 13 in the second half. She added seven rebounds, two steals and an assist in 27 minutes.
- Jewel Loyd also had 15 points while contributing five rebounds and two assists.
- Ezi Magbegor two digits for the 15thth Times this year with 10 points and added six rebounds, three steals, two assists and a block.
- Stephanie Talbot came off the bench and scored seven points, hitting all three shots attempted in the fourth quarter and contributing three rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block.
FEVER HIGHLIGHTS
- Hey Lyssa Smith Fever led the Fever with 15 points and nine rebounds, followed by Emma cannon‘s 14 points, five rebounds, two steals and one assist.
MILESTONES
- With two steals in quick succession early in Q2, Sue Bird moved past Alana Beard to third on the all-time steal list with 711 career steals.
NEXT GAME
The Storm returns to the streets for an early 9am PT tip on Wednesday, July 20, gazing at the Chicago skies.