Jewell Loyd fourth quarter offensive explosion leads Storm to 86-83 playoff win over Mystic

 Sensing the Storm were in need of a spark to cross the finish in game one of the team’s three-game  WNBA Playoff series Jewell Loyd took matters into her own hands.

Loyd scored 12 of Seattle’s final  14 points in a key 14-6 run in the last five minutes of the contest that saw the home side pull off a 86-83 win over the Washington Mystics Thursday night in Climate Pledge Arena. Loyd was coming off a career-high 38 points in the Storm’s regular season game.

 Breanna Stewart scored 12 points in the third quarter, and finished with 23 in the game, adding 12 rebounds for her fourth career double-double. Gabby Williams once again flirted with a triple-double, finishing with 12 points, seven rebounds, six assists, three steals, and one block.

Loyd, who scored just four points through the first three quarters, closed out the game strong, hitting 4-of-6 over the final five minutes to lead Seattle’s final push. The Storm trailed by five at 77-72 with just under five to play when Loyd hit a step-back three to start the run. After a Washington bucket pushed the lead back to four, Loyd hit another three-pointer with 2:56 left. The Mystics again hit another bucket to stretch the lead to three with 1:58 left, but Loyd answered with a tough fade away to make it a one-point game with 1:34 to go.

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After a three-point miss on the other end, Seattle called timeout with under a minute to go. Loyd’s stepback three as the shot clock wound down rattled off, but Tina Charles came up with a huge offensive rebound with 48 seconds to go. Ten seconds later, Loyd hit a pullup jumper with 38 seconds on the clock to give the Storm the lead at 82-81.

On the ensuing Mystics possession, a bad pass sailed out of bound with 24.2 seconds left and Loyd hit a pair of free throws after a Mystics foul to stretch it the lead to three. Elena Delle Donne’s three-pointer on the next trip down rattled out and Stewart made a pair of free throws after the Washington foul to close out the game.

The Storm offense continued to click as Seattle shot 50.8% from the field in the game—its sixth-best mark in the postseason in franchise history. The Storm ended the regular-season shooting at least 46.3% in each of its final three games, shooting over 50% in two of those.

Seattle looks to close out the best-of-three series on Sunday as the two teams square off again at Climate Pledge Arena at 1:00 p.m. The game will be nationally broadcast on ESPN.

TEAM	1	2	3	4	SCORE	RECORD	HIGH PTS	HIGH REB	HIGH AST
WASHINGTON	18	24	23	18	83	0-1	E. Delle Donne, 26	S. Austin, 7	E. Delle Donne, 5
SEATTLE	18	22	24	22	86	1-0	B. Stewart, 23	B. Stewart, 12	G. Williams, 6

STORY OF THE GAME

• Jewell Loyd caught fire in the fourth quarter, scoring 12 out of her 16 points over the final five minutes of the game including a jump shot with 38 seconds left on the clock to give the Storm the final lead of the game and the upper-hand with an 86-83 win in the best-of-three first-round playoffs series against the Washington Mystics.

KEY STATS OF THE GAME

• In a game that featured remarkable similar stats by both teams across the board including both teams making 32 field goals, the difference seemed to be Seattle’s three additional three-pointers (10) than Washington’s (7). The Storm also held a slight rebounding edge at 31-27.

STORM HIGHLIGHTS

• Breanna Stewart led all scorers with 23 points, adding 12 rebounds to record her fourth career playoff double-double. Stewart also added four assists, one steal and one block.
• Jewell Loyd scored 16 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter after going the first 35 minutes without a field goal. She also had three assists and two rebounds.
• Gabby Williams scored 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting, adding seven rebounds, six assists, three steals and one block.
• Sue Bird contributed 10 points on 4-of-9 shooting with two assists, one rebound and one steal.

STORM MILESTONES

• With a three-pointer at the 4:33 mark in the second quarter, Sue Bird drained her 100^th three-pointer of her playoff career. She is one of only four WNBA players to make 100+ 3pt FGs (Diana Taurasi, Becky Hammon, and Maya Moore).

MYSTICS HIGHLIGHTS

• Elena Delle Donne had a game-high 26 points adding five assists, three rebounds, a steal and a block.
• Three other Mystics’ players scores in double-digits: Natasha Cloud (16), Ariel Atkins (16), and Shakira Austin (12)

NEXT GAME

The 2022 Seattle Storm Playoffs Presented by Symetra continue Sunday, Aug. 21, at 1:00 p.m. at Climate Pledge Arena next week with Seattle hosting the Washington Mystics in Game Two of a three-game series.