By Christan Braswell, edited by Charles Hamaker

Seattle, WA - With 144 players — sometimes less — across 12 rosters, the best women’s professional basketball players are in the WNBA. Even though some teams go through rough patches and deal with injuries, the truth still holds the same. Storm head coach Noelle Quinn spoke on it before taking on the Atlanta Dream (7-16) to wrap up a historic nine-game homestand at Climate Pledge Arena.

What Quinn’s group didn’t do was exactly that. When the final whistle blew, Seattle was standing on top, winning 80-71.

Five Storm players posted double-figures, including four of their starting five. Forward/center Ezi Magbegor finished with a team-high 18 points on 72 percent shooting, with five rebounds and three blocks. Sophomore forward Jordan Horston had 16 points, five rebounds, three assists, three steals, and 2 blocks.

Jordan Horston and Ezi Magbegor were menaces on the defensive end of the basketball for the Seattle Storm in their 80-71 win over the Atlanta Dream at Climate Pledge Arena on Sunday, July 14th, 2024. (Photos by Rio Giancarlo)

Losing six straight games entering Sunday’s contest with the Storm, the Dream were struggling to put things together amidst injuries and lineup changes. At some point, something has to give and they followed suit, posting a 23-point opening frame. Atlanta went into the matchup averaging 19.2 points in the first quarter (last in the WNBA). Dream center and former Storm player Tina Charles and guard Maya Caldwell combined for 15 of the team’s 23 points in that opening frame. In a quarter that saw eight lead changes and six ties, Storm forward Ezi Magbegor and wing Jordan Horston were a combined 7-for-7, leading the charge as the rest of the team was 3-for-13.

After shooting 45 percent in the first quarter, Atlanta shot 35 percent and netted 13 points in that next frame. Seattle’s defense returned to shape, with eight forced turnovers, adding to a 12-2 advantage in points off them. Over the last six minutes, offense was hard to come by as Seattle only scored two points. Despite the scoring drought, the Storm only allowed six points and headed to the locker room with a six-point lead at 42-36 when the halfway mark of this game.

Storm guard Skylar Diggins-Smith suffered an ankle injury in the second quarter, and did not return in the second half. The savvy veteran is called “the head of the snake” by Quinn and her teammates for several reasons that include her tenacity at the point of attack and her ability to force ball handlers into awkward positions that lead to turnovers. She also limits drivers to the rim in the midcourt, clogging passing lanes doing so.

Seattle missed her talents in the second half as Atlanta took advantage of her absence, especially in the third quarter in the paint where they netted eight of their nine field goals for the period in near the rim, shooting 52 percent overall. Caldwell kept the Dream afloat, scoring nine point, finishing with a game-high 19.

Throughout Seattle’s lulls on offense, Atlanta never waivered. After a 6-0 run to end the third quarter with a three-point deficit, the Dream scored four points over the first two minutes of the quarter, bringing the game within a single possession on a 10-2 push. Physicality defined the game with Diggins-Smith out for the second half, with rough interior play, and Storm guard Jewell Loyd took an elbow to the face from Dream guard Ariel Powers around the five-minute mark. Seattle responded with an 11-5 run in the clutch to wrap up this game and give the Storm a victory to end the longest homestand in WNBA history. They’re now 8-3 in those aforementioned “clutch” situations. Considering they did it without their starting point guard and captain of the defense, it holds the true meaning of basketball being a team game.

What’s next?

Following today’s afternoon victory over the struggling Atlanta Dream, closing out their historic nine-game homestand with a 7-2 record, the Seattle Storm have one more contest on the docket before heading off into the month-long Olympic Break. The last contest before a month off comes on the road this Tuesday, July 16th as the Storm head down the West Coast for a tussle with the Los Angeles Sparks that has a tipoff time of 12:30PM PDT at Crypto.com Arena, being broadcast live on FOX 13 / Amazon Prime Video - Seattle, NBA TV Canada, Spectrum SportsNet. It’s the last contest for an entire month for the Storm, as their next competition following the Olympic break comes on August 16th, and Seattle has three current players headed to Paris in Jewell Loyd, Ezi Magbegor, and Sami Whitcomb while former Seattle player Lauren Jackson has come out of retirement to join the latter two and search for a medal with the Australian Opals. The Sparks, without star rookie Cameron Brink for the rest of the season due to a torn ACL in her left knee, have won just two of their last twelve contests and face a tough challenge in a Storm side that will want to finish things off properly ahead of the break, continuing their momentum off this homestand.

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