Jewell Loyd pours in 30 points to pace Seattle offense
The Dallas Wings kept trying to run away from the Seattle Storm.
The Storm kept running right back into the game.
But ultimately, they just ran out of time.
Jewell Loyd poured in 30 points, and Kia Nurse came through with 20, but the Wings fended off a fourth-quarter Seattle comeback on Friday night and escaped Climate Pledge Arena with a 95-91 victory.
Loyd’s 30-point performance came on the heels of the 22-pointer she had against the Las Vegas Aces in last Saturday’s season opener. It was the 10th time in her career that she went for 30 or more, and the second in her last three regular-season games.
Nurse did not score in 10 ½ minutes of action Saturday against Vegas, but found her stride on Friday, hitting 6-of-13 from the field—all from behind the 3-point arc. It is the sixth time in her career that she has hit half a dozen, and was just one shy of her career high. She accounted for more than half of Seattle’s 10 treys, the 41st consecutive game the Storm has drained five or more.
The Storm (0-2) was down 62-45 with 5:36 left in the third quarter after Dallas (2-0) completed an 8-0 scoring run. It was still a 17-point margin at 67-50 at the 4:00 mark.
Seattle then put together a surge of its own, 14-8 to close out the third, staying very much within reach at 75-64 going into the fourth.
A putback by Ezi Magbegor to open to open the final quarter closed the margin to nine at 75-66 — the first time the Storm had been within single digits since midway through the second quarter. From there, it swung between seven and 10 points, with Dallas back on top at 91-84 at 2:33 to go.
Back-to-back baskets by Loyd — a jumper from the left of the foul line, then a 17-footer from the right of the lane — made it 93-88 with 1:40 on the clock, forcing Dallas to call a timeout. An offensive foul on Satou Sabally turned the ball back over to the Storm.
Nurse’s sixth trey of the night, this one from 23 feet away on the right side, brought Seattle within 93-91 and still 1:08 remaining.
Just moments later as the Wings were bringing the ball out of backcourt, Natasha Howard knocked Loyd hard to the floor. Loyd eventually got back up and left the game, and Howard was called for an offensive foul, giving the ball back the Storm in front court with 1:05 to go.
A pull-up jump shot by Sami Whitcomb bounced off the rim, but Arella Guirantes latched onto the offensive rebound, resetting the shot clock to 14. However, Seattle was not able to get off a shot, and the ball was turned back over to the Wings at 28.3 seconds.
Crystal Dangerfield, who finished with 17 points, had a shot from the right of the lane that went off the rim. Sabally was right there to corral the rebound and went for the putback and a 95-91 advantage with just 4.8 seconds left.
The Storm called timeout and advanced the ball to frontcourt. But the Wings knocked away the ensuing inbounds pass and hung onto the ball as time expired.
Magbegor finished with a double-double of 15 points and 12 rebounds, as she hit 6 of 9 from the field.
Arike Ogunbowale poured in 26 points for Dallas, draining 10 of 21 from the floor, including 3 of 8 from downtown. The Wings had four of their five starters in double figures, as Sabally joined Dangerfield with 17, and Howard tallied 16.
UP NEXT
The Storm play host to the New York Liberty on Tuesday, with a special tip-off time of 6:00 p.m. to accommodate the nationwide telecast on ESPN2. It will mark the return of Breanna Stewart to Seattle since signing as a free agent with the Liberty last summer.
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