By Mazvita Maraire Posted on

Fever energy and determation snap Storm three game win streak.

Aliyah Boston scored a career-high 31 points to lead the Indiana Fever to a dominating  94-86 win over the Seattle Storm. The win  snapped the Storm’s three-game win streak and was a rebound win for the Fever, who were on a two-game losing  streak.  Skylar Diggins scored 22 points and was among four starters who scored in double figures in the losing cause. The game matched the WNBA’s top two teams in points scored inside the paint.

TWO DETERMINED TEAMS DETERMINED TO WIN THE  PHYSICAL BATTLE

All week, there was major uproar over officiating in the WNBA The referees definitely received the memo about setting an early tone in the game.  As a result, the referees called 14 fouls in the first quarter. The foul count was split down the middle with seven on each team. The count did cause a disjointed first quarter. In addition, both teams were intent on attacking the paint.  A back-and-forth affair, the first quarter ended with the Fever with a 27-24 lead.

 LACK OF BALL MOVEMENT

The Storm’s ball movement stagnated in the second quarter, causing the offense to slow down.  The Storm made 6 of 16 from the field in the quarter and were  0-6 from the three-point line. Making matters worse, the Storm were outrebounded seven to thirteen in the quarter, which stalled the team’s transition game. Tenacious defense kept the Storm in the game. The Fever made 6 of 18 shots from the field and were 2 of 6 from the three-point range. Despite the second half misfortunes, the Storm  went into the halftime break down  39-45

 LACK OF ENERGY AND TEAMWORK

Things went from bad to worse in the third quarter when the stagnant ball movement, lack of execution on both ends of the court, was accompanied by a lack of rebounding. The Storm  made  six of 14 shots from the field while the  Fever made  13 of 18  shots from the field. The Fever had two offensive rebounds that were converted to points in the court. Lexie Hall was perfect from the field, going 4 for 4, and made both three-point attempts to score a quarter-high 10 points. The Storm  had five turnovers in the quarter and were outscored 30- 19.

“ I mean, the second and the third quarter are kind of running together to me right now. 
I look at the film a little bit, but definitely we can’t allow 15 offensive rebounds in 22nd chance points, that’s pretty deflating, said head coach Noell Quinn. 
”We couldn’t get out and run and get the execute where we needed to early on in transition. And then the turn numbers, 18 points in turn numbers, that’s the majority of the game right there. So the rebounding, you know, just continue to talk about it, it    has to be an emphasis.”

The Fever reeled off a 13-5 run to end the third quarter and ballooned their lead to 17 points at 75-58.

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STORM MAKES IT CLOSE BUT NEVER CLOSES THE GAP

A furious comeback by the Storm  fell short . Each time the Storm looked like they were mounting a comeback, the Fever had an answer. A three-pointer by Erica Wheeler cut the Fever’s lead to just seven points but there were on 26 points left on the game clock. Lexie Hull’s free throw pushed the lead back to eight points, securing the win for the Fever.

POST GAME NOTES

KEY STATS OF THE GAME  

·       The Storm set the team’s season high with 20 made free throws and seven different Storm players finished with multiple made free throws, tying the franchise record for most players with multiple free throws made.  

·       Seattle outscored the Fever 9-to-7 in second-chance points after halftime.  

·       The Storm knocked down five three-pointers in the fourth quarter, matching the team’s second-most three-pointers made in a single quarter this season.  

·       18,343 fans were in attendance to match the largest home crowd in Storm franchise history. This marked the third-highest attendance of any WNBA game so far in 2025.  

STORM HIGHLIGHTS 

·       Skylar Diggins led the Storm with 22 points on 60% (9-for-15) shooting from the field while dishing out five assists. Diggins also blocked two shots and grabbed a steal to join Diana Taurasi as the only players in WNBA history with three consecutive games of at least 20 points, five assists, one steal and one block. Diggins is one of just four guards in the WNBA with at least 10 blocks so far this season. This also marked her 74th career game with at least 20 points and five assists, which is the second-most such games in league history. 

·       Erica Wheeler scored 20 points, with all 20 coming in the second half to match her career high for points in a single half. Wheeler dropped 14 points in the fourth quarter alone for the highest-scoring quarter of her career and finished shooting 50% (5-for-10) from deep for a season-high five made threes. She set career highs for three-pointers made in a single quarter, with four in the final frame, and also for made threes in a half with five. Wheeler added two assists and set her season high with two offensive rebounds. She has made at least one three-pointer in four consecutive games for her longest streak of games with a made three-pointer since 2022. 

·       Reigning Western Conference Player of the Week Nneka Ogwumike posted 16 points and a team-high six boards to go with two steals and two blocks.Ogwumike scored at least 15 points for the 253rd time in her career, passing Tina Thompson for the fourth-most 15-point games in WNBA history. She knocked down all five of her free-throw attempts to set her new season high for free-throws made in a game. Ogwumike has made six three-pointers in her last three games, matching her career high for threes made in a three-game span throughout her career.  

·       Gabby Williams finished with 11 points and three assists while adding two steals and a block. This marks Williams’s league-high 11th multi-steal game of the season, and she leads the league with 2.6 steals per game. Williams grabbed her 17th first-quarter steal of the season and is averaging 1.1 steals per first quarter, the only player with more than five games played in 2025 to average at least one steal in any quarter. 

·       Ezi Magbegor put up nine points on 75% (3-for-4) shooting from the field while knocking down her first three-pointer of the season and grabbed five rebounds with one steal and a pair of blocks. She dished out three assists before halftime to tie her season high for assists in a single half.  

·       Alysha Clark knocked down a pair of free throws to score two points along with two assists and two rebounds off the bench. Clark also grabbed a steal to reach 300 career takeaways.  

FEVER HIGHLIGHTS 

·       Aliyah Boston scored a career-high 31 points, and Lexie Hull recorded a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds.  

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