Storm cap off their homestand with a win against Atlanta
By Bel Garcia
Seattle, WA - Seattle ended their eight game homestand with a hard fought 72-60 win over the Atlanta Dream on Tuesday night. A stellar performance by Jewell Loyd powered the Storm early on, and Loyd never took her foot off the gas pedal. The Gold Mamba was not the only one to contribute double digits to the team’s win, as big contributions also came from Breanna Stewart and Ezi Magbegor.
Jewell Loyd and Rhyne Howard go for a jump ball (Photo Mathew Bermudez)
Starters come up big
Jewell Loyd started the game aggressive for the Storm, scoring 13 of the team’s 20 points in the 1st quarter. It took a while for Breanna Stewart to find her rhythm, as her offensive struggles continued in the first quarter. Stewie’s first points of the game came later that quarter, but the offense was in good hands as Loyd continued to be aggressive. Stewart made shots when the team needed them most as Atlanta began to make a push near the end. She would finish the night with 19 points to add to her 6 rebounds. Feeding off Loyd’s energy was also Ezi Magbegor, who was efficient in both scoring and defense. She had five dominant blocks in the paint and was 2-for-2 from 3-point land. Both coming late in the 3rd and 4th quarters to give the Storm some breathing room and increase the lead to double digits. Magbegor would end the night shooting 5-for-6 from the field and a total of 12 points to add to her stat sheet.
Jewell Loyd goes one on one with #1 overall draft pick Rhyne Howard (Photo Mathew Bermudez)
Coach gets fired up, firing the team up
The Dream kept it close for the first half, but if you were to ask some fans, they may say it came with a little help from the striped shirts. There were several fouls being called on the Storm and it didn’t feel like many calls were in their favor. At one point in the second quarter Coach Quinn decided to voice her frustrations to the refs and was T’d up, something that she had been trying to accomplish. Loyd agreed that it helped fire the team up to see Coach going to bat for them. They came back from halftime with a commanding 3rd quarter, in which they outscored the Dream by 12 points. Once again leading the charge was their defense as they forced 3 shot clock violations and were able to score 26 points. Noelle Quinn’s energy and message to the team at halftime must have certainly helped propel them forward. Also leading the charge going into the 4th was once again Jewell Loyd with a 3rd quarter buzzer-beater three.
As the team prepares to take on their next five teams on the road, they will try to continue their defensive tenacity. Seattle will face the Dallas Wings twice to begin their road trip in what some might consider a revenge tour, as Seattle will play two teams they lost to in Dallas and Connecticut. As Ezi Magbegor said regarding mentality going into these next few games, “they will take it game by game”.