Less than a week after the Seattle Storm earned their first victory of the year in a road game against the Washington Mystics, they will try to repeat the feat when the teams meet again, this time in the Pacific Northwest on Saturday.
The new-look Storm (2-3) lost their first two games before their 84-75 win over the Mystics on Sunday. Seattle finally showed the type of cohesion it was looking for as Jewell Loyd reverted to her 2023 form with a game-high 24 points.
The Storm’s new addition Skylar Diggins-Smith had 18 points and five assists but committed seven of the team’s 20 turnovers. Seattle’s other new roster addition, Nneka Ogwumike, missed the game with an ankle injury.
Loyd had just 10 points in a season-opening loss at Minnesota, after she led the WNBA with 24.7 points per game last season. But she has averaged 22.3 points in the four games since, including a season-best 32 in an 85-83 home victory over the Indiana Fever on Wednesday.
Ogwumike added 22 points and nine rebounds against the Fever.
“I was just kind of being clear in my head and was in a good space coming into (the) game,” Loyd said. “I just changed my routine a little bit. I don’t need too much. I was just allowing my teammates to guide me and tell me what they see.”
The Mystics (0-5) remain in search of their first victory as they come to the end of their three-game road trip. Washington fell 70-68 to the Los Angeles Sparks on Tuesday and 83-80 to the Phoenix Mercury on Thursday.
Ariel Atkins scored 16 points for the Mystics in Thursday’s defeat and Julie Vanloo added 15 points on five 3-pointers, but the team remains in an adjustment mode without Elena Delle Donne, who opted out of the season.
The Mystics are averaging a league-worst 76 points per game. Shatori Walker-Kimbrough gave Washington a boost on Thursday, scoring 11 of the team’s 26 bench points.
“I tell the bench that we have to come in and make a difference,” Walker-Kimbrough said. “A lot of (opposing) starters are playing heavy minutes and I feel that’s where we can be a difference. We have one of the best benches in the league. We have to show people.”
–Field Level Media
