Seattle finally gets one
Eleven games. That is how long the Seattle Storm had gone without a win before Monday night. The drought ended at home, 97-88 against the Chicago Sky, and Dominique Malonga made sure of it. The young center posted 26 points and 10 rebounds, a double-double that carried a team which had forgotten what winning felt like since a July 6 rout of Los Angeles.
Natisha Hiedeman chipped in 18 points and a game-high nine assists. Zia Cooke added 16, Jordan Horston 10. Seattle needed every one of them, because the Sky refused to disappear.
Try it for $0.99.
Chicago pushed, Seattle answered
The Storm led by 17 early in the third quarter and looked comfortable. Then Chicago clawed back. DiJonai Carrington poured in a career-best 26 points off the bench, and her steal and layup cut the gap to 84-82 with 2:52 to play. That was the moment the game could have slipped away again, the way five of Seattle’s losses during this slide had, each by two possessions or fewer.
Malonga answered with a layup. Cooke buried a three. A 13-6 close settled it. Kamilla Cardoso finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds for the Sky, Courtney Vandersloot added 13, but Chicago shot 33.3 percent in the first half and never dug out of that early hole.
What it changes
Seattle sits at 7-28, still deep in the Western Conference basement, and one win does not reroute a season. It does stop the bleeding. The Storm played without Flau’jae Johnson (left ankle) and Katie Lou Samuelson (right knee), so leaning on Malonga and Hiedeman was less a choice than a necessity.
Chicago, at 12-23, dropped a third game in four and fell seven back of Dallas for the final playoff spot. Skylar Diggins sat out with a knee issue, and leading scorer Sydney Taylor missed a third straight game with a left groin problem. The Sky have the talent to chase a postseason berth. Nights like this one, blowing a 17-point cushion on the road, are why they might not get there.
Discover the rest of our WNBA news on MathODDS!
in your pocket.
Real-time notifications & alerts
Leave a Reply