Jewell Loyd scored 16 points and the host Seattle Storm held off the Connecticut Sun 72-61 in a game featuring two teams that struggled with their shooting on Sunday afternoon.
Fellow starters Skylar Diggins-Smith added 13 points and eight assists, Nneka Ogwumike scored 13, Ezi Magbegor had 11 points and nine rebounds and Jordan Horston scored 10 for the Storm (10-6), who began a nine-game homestand.
Alyssa Thomas had 14 points and 14 rebounds, Brionna Jones scored 14 and Tyasha Harris added 10 for the Sun (13-3), who lost a second consecutive game for the first time this season.
Connecticut shot 37.3 percent (25 of 67) on field-goal attempts including 14.3 percent (2 of 14) on 3-pointers, while Seattle shot 42.2 percent (27 of 64) from the floor, 25 percent (4 of 16) from long range.
Diggins-Smith’s field goal started the third-quarter scoring, and she assisted on Loyd’s three-point play with 7:04 remaining in the period to give Seattle its biggest lead to that point, 41-34.
DeWanna Bonner scored six points during an 8-0 run that gave Connecticut a one-point lead. Ogwumike answered with four points that helped the Storm open a nine-point lead before holding a 55-48 edge at the end of the third quarter.
Magbegor’s layup pushed the lead to nine at the start of the fourth quarter before Jones’ field goal and Bonner’s 3-pointer got the Sun within four points midway through the fourth quarter. Seattle scored the next five points to regain control.
Thomas had eight points and Jones six as they combined for all of the Sun’s first-quarter points. Connecticut held a 14-8 lead at the end of the period after the Storm went scoreless for the final 3:20.
Tiffany Mitchell made a jumper to start the second-quarter scoring and become the third Connecticut player to score. She added two layups that helped expand the lead to 28-17.
Loyd scored five straight points to start and made two free throws to complete a 13-0 run that gave the Storm a 30-28 lead.
Harris made three free throws to end Connecticut’s nearly four-minute scoring drought, but Loyd and Ogwumike made consecutive layups to give Seattle a 34-31 halftime lead as the Sun did not make a field goal during the final 5:11.
–Field Level Media
