Sun burn through the Storm with big fourth quarter in 93-86 win
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – A 32-point fourth quarter and monster efforts from Brionna Jones and Jonquel Jones gave the Connecticut Sun a comeback win over the Seattle Storm. Seattle started the game hot, as Ezi Magbegor’s big game started by scoring the Storm’s first eight points. Ultimately, Seattle’s mistakes and uncharacteristically subpar defense gave them the loss, dropping their record to 5-5 on the season.
Ezi Magbegor hit her first three of the season, and poured in 19 points total (Photo Neil Enns)
Leads slip away like leaves in a rain storm
At a point in the first half, the Storm lead sat at 13. Heading into the fourth quarter, Seattle's lead was six points. Four minutes into that final quarter, the Sun had flipped the game on its head and lead by eight. Connecticut was able to get to the charity stripe with ease, attempting 30 free throws. While the Sun only made six shots from beyond the arch on the night, a couple threes in that quarter by DeWanna Bonner and DiJonai Carrington hurt Seattle. The Storm’s inability to build on leads continues, this time resulting in a loss. Storm point guard Sue Bird stated what she thought went into the loss.
“This is one of those games where it is hard to pinpoint what went wrong. When I watch film, I’ll have a better answer for you... it felt like we had a lot of turnovers, and the basket got bigger and bigger for them. They were hitting threes late that they didn’t hit in the first half. They were able to comeback when we were up by ten at one point. Once they got things going, we couldn’t find ways to overcome it,” Bird said.
In her return from Health and Safety Protocols, Sue Bird poured in 17 points and 6 assists (Photo Neil Enns)
Seeing double
The Connecticut duo of Brionna Jones and Jonquel Jones caused problems for Seattle all game, but especially in the second half. The two Jones’ combined for 46 of Connecticut’s 93 points, and they seemingly powered the Sun comeback. Jonquel Jones is coming off of an MVP season in 2021, and hadn’t started this season off in that way until this matchup. The June 5th game against Seattle may be a launching point for Jonquel, who totaled 25 points, eight rebounds, and six assists. Seattle point guard Sue Bird would reflect on the impact the Sun front court had on the game.
“This is a team that was very high in rebounding coming in, we knew we had to be on our game in offensive rebounding. When you add the size, it makes them hard to guard down low. I personally don’t think its insurmountable, I think we made mistakes that they capitalized on. If you noticed in the second half, we played a lot of zone; that’s not normally what we play. These are things that we have to work on,” Bird reflected.
Jonquel Jones looked like her 2021 MVP self (Photo Neil Enns)
Don’t hit that panic button yet
This is a tough loss for Seattle to swallow, considering that the team at one point held a 13-point lead over a great Connecticut team. Add to the fact that the Storm had their full roster healthy for the first time all season, and you would figure that Seattle won this game. There are some reasons for concern when you look at the Storm losses, but ultimately it is not time to panic. Seattle now has their full roster, they will continue to build, and will have to learn from the past two losses.
The Storm will close out their historic homestand with a matchup against the Atlanta Dream at Climate Pledge Arena. Tipoff is at 7PM PST on Tuesday, June 7th as Atlanta brings their 7-4 record to town for the first time this season. A new look Dream, showing a ton of improvement over last season, will look to hand Seattle their third straight loss.
