Storm top Aces in Tina Charles’ debut
By Bel Garcia
Seattle, WA - The Seattle Storm won 88-78 on University of Washington night and Tina Charles’ Storm debut over the Las Vegas Aces. Husky alum Kelsey Plum and the Las Vegas Aces were unable to get past the buzz saw that is the Storm defense. With the addition of Tina Charles to the lineup as center, I think we all wondered the same thing; will Ezi Magbegor hold on to her spot in the line up? Short answer, Ezi did. Ezi has earned her starting position, averaging 12.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 2.7 blocks on the season. Needless to mention, Tina Charles didn’t start the game, this was the first time that she has not been a starter in a game as she has started all 372 career games. It did not take long for her to enter the game, as she made her debut within two minutes of the game, and it wasn’t long before she hit a floater and earned her first points of the game.
Tina Charles made her Storm debut in the win (Photo Mat Bermudez)
Steph stops all
An aggressive force on offense as well as on defense tonight was Stephanie Talbot. Talbot and Loyd were the last two Storm players to leave pre-game shootaround. Stephanie was scoring in the paint, from the arc, and making big defensive stops on Kelsey Plum all night. She held Kelsey Plum to only 16 points tonight and drew a couple of charges on her in the process. During the Aces’ post game presser, the Aces players identified what made Stephanie such a factor for the Storm coming off the bench. Jackie Young gave Talbot credit in “doing it all, especially the little things and that’s what makes her special coming off the bench.” Talbot ended the night with 15 points and a great defensive performance. As usual, Jewell Loyd had another Gold Mamba performance, with 24 points of her own. Eleven of those 24 coming in the fourth quarter to help close out the game.
Steph Talbot had a great impact both offensively and defensively (Photo Mat Bermudez)
Defense wins championships
Throughout the season, Coach Noelle Quinn has been praising the Storm’s ability to buckle down on defense when it is needed to win games. In the third quarter of this game, Seattle was able to cause two shot clock violations to keep the Aces from cutting into their lead. Coach Quinn was not the only one to credit Seattle’s defense for the win tonight. Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon also credited the Storm defense, exclaiming that “23 points off of turnovers is a hard thing to overcome.” Also stating that Jewell Loyd, Breanna Stewart, and Sue Bird are on a championship caliber team, and they closed out well. Stewart struggled to find her offense for about 38 minutes of this one but showed up win a crucial fourth quarter and hit back-to-back threes to give her team some breathing room. Sue started the game with the hot hand to keep this one close for Seattle, with this win she now has the record for the most career wins with 324.
Jewell Loyd defends University of Washington alum Kelsey Plum (Photo Mat Bermudez)
A’ja Wilson collected yet another double-double for Las Vegas with 17 points and 16 rebounds. All but one of the Aces starters scored in double figures. This was a hard-fought victory for the Storm against the highest ranked team in the WNBA, and an overall good team performance. Looking ahead, Seattle welcomes a struggling Indiana Fever team to Climate Pledge Arena on Friday, the 1st of July. Tipoff is at 7PM PST, and the game will be streamed on the WNBA Facebook page.