The Seattle Storm closed on a 16-4 run that left them three point victors as the No. 7 seed Storm downed the No. 2 seed Las Vegas Aces 86-83 to even up the best-of-three series 1-1 in front of 12,500 at Climate Pledge Arena on Tuesday night.
The Aces came out of the gate intending on closing it out as a win would move them to the semifinal round. Aces guard Jackie Young made a pull up jump shot to begin the scoring, which was followed by one from her teammate, Aces center A’ja Wilson. However, Storm forward Nneka Ogwumike answered with a three-pointer and Las Vegas led 4-3 just one minute into the contest.
Aces forward Kiersten Bell was called for a transition take foul, which sent Ogwumike to the free throw line. Her one free throw tied the game 4-4. Ogwumike then broke the tie with a layup a minute later, but Bell answered with a three-ball. Ogwumike put the Storm back up 8-7 on a fadeaway jumper. Storm guard Gabby Williams made a layup and the Aces called timeout with 6:19 left in the opening quarter and a 10-7 Seattle lead.
Aces guard Jewell Loyd hit a long jumper coming out of the timeout, and Ogwumike responded with a three-pointer to put the Storm up 13-9.Wilson scored on a layup and then a turnaround jump shot and the game was tied 13-13. The Storm called timeout with 4:05 left in the opening quarter.
Las Vegas went on a 7-2 run coming out of the timeout as Loyd connect on a three-pointer, guard Chelsea Gray hit a jump shot and Wilson made two free throws after getting fouled by Storm center Dominique Malonga. It was Malonga who made two free throws for Seattle after getting fouled by Aces forward Cheyenne Parker-Tyus.
However, those Las Vegas gains were quickly erased with a jumper from Storm forward Ezi Magbegor, a layup from Malonga, and a layup from Gabby Williams. Gray connected on a step back jumper for Las Vegas with 35 seconds left to end the 6-0 Seattle run. Wilson was in the paint attempting a layup to get one more score before the quarter break when Magbegor came from behind and blocked the shot. Loyd picked up the rebound and managed to get a shot off but missed. The Aces led 22-21 at the end of the first quarter.
Storm guard Brittney Sykes and Aces guard Jewell Loyd exchanged offensive fouls in the first minute of the second quarter. Both fouls were against each other.
Wilson opened the second quarter scoring with a layup, which was answered with a jump shot from Malonga. Loyd made a three-pointer and Aces guard Dana Evans added two free throws after getting fouled by storm guard Erica Wheeler. Ogwumike offset the free throws with a jump shot, but that was answered with a layup from Wilson. Las Vegas led 31-25 with 7:08 left until halftime.
Skylar Diggins scored on a floating jump shot for her first points of the game. It wouldn’t be her last points of the game or the quarter. Loyd converted one of two free throws after getting fouled by Sykes. Then Diggins hit a pullup jumper for her second shot of the night. Evans hit a three-pointer for Las Vegas which made it 35-29 just before the official’s timeout occurred with 5:44 left until halftime. During the timeout, the officiating crew reviewed Evan’s shot and ruled that the shot clock had expired, and took the points away. It was 32-29 in favor of the Aces.
Sykes layup after the timeout cut the Seattle deficit to one, but Aces forward NaLyssa Smith scored back-to-back layups to extend the lead back to five points. Then Diggins came up big again for the Storm hitting back-to-back three-pointers to give Seattle a one-point lead. A three-pointer by Wilson put the Aces back up by two-points. Then Malonga fouled Wilson, who converted one of two free throws. Las Vegas led 40-37 when Seattle called timeout with 2:33 left in the half.
Young made a pullup jump shot and Gray hit a three-pointer to lift the Aces to a 45-37 lead with just over a minute to go, but the Storm wasn’t finished. Magbegor made a floating jumper. Then Diggins stole the inbounds pass and made a three-pointer. NaLyssa Smith fouled Diggins, who then made both free shots to pull the Storm to within one with 32 seconds left. Gray missed a reverse layup, Magbegor grabbed the rebound and passed to Diggins, who launched a shot at the buzzer, but it fell short. The Storm finished the quarter on a 7-0 run as the Aces led 45-44 at the halftime break. Both teams scored 23 points in the quarter. Diggins led all scorers in the quarter with 15 points.
The Aces regrouped at halftime and began the third quarter showing that they wanted it more. Bell’s layup began the third quarter scoring and extended the Aces lead to three. Sykes answered with a layup of her own. Bell responded with another layup.
Wilson was fouled by Magbegor and landed hard on her left elbow. She missed her first free throw because of the injury but made the second. NaLyssa Smith was fouled by Ogwumike and made one of two free throws, and Young made two free throws after getting fouled by Sykes. Young also made a pullup jump shot to cap an 8-0 Aces run in which they led 55-46 with 5:40 left in the third quarter.
Ogwumike made a put back layup on her own miss after Wilson blocked her shot. Then she and Young exchanged three-pointers. The Aces led 58-51 with 4:09 left in the third quarter at the official’s timeout.
Young was fouled by Malonga while in the act of attempting a three-pointer. The Aces guard converted all three free throws. Then Young made a driving bank shot to extend the Aces lead to a dozen. The score was now 63-51 when Seattle called timeout with 3:12 left in the third quarter.
Coming out of the timeout, Seattle tried getting back into single digits. Malonga made a fadeaway jumper to cut the deficit to ten, but a Loyd three-pointer pushed it back to 13. Diggins fouled Parker-Tyus, who made one of two free throws, and Las Vegas had its largest lead of 14 points.
Ogwumike hit a bank shot and was fouled by Young for the “and one.” Then Ogwumike made a three-pointer. The Aces turned it over on a shot clock violation. Gabby Williams made two free throws after getting fouled by Young. The Storm ran off an 8-0 run and now had a six-point deficit. Young’s floating jump shot just before the quarter expired gave Las Vegas the 69-61 lead at the end of the third quarter.
When the fourth quarter began, the Aces just had ten minutes left to protect the lead and they could advance to the second round. When NaLyssa Smith scored a layup to open the quarter, extending the lead to ten, it appeared that they were going to just continue to push forward.
For a while they did.
Diggins made a floating jumper, but Wilson was able to bring that margin back up to ten points when she made two free throws after getting fouled by Ogwumike. Wilson then added two more points on a jump shot but failed to convert the free throw when she was fouled by Magbegor. A Diggins bank shot equalized the Wilson jump shot. On the next Seattle possession, Diggins went into the paint for a midrange jump shot, Referee Tiara Cruse called a foul on Wilson. Seattle called timeout, and Las Vegas challenged the call. The call was overturned. The Aces led 75-65 with 6:24 left in the game when the timeout was called.
Wheeler rattled home a three-pointer to make the score 75-68 in favor of the Aces with 5:50 left in the game when the Aces called timeout.
Young came out of the timeout making a layup, but Wheeler responded with a jump shot. Young made two free throws after getting fouled by Wheeler and then Diggins dropped another three-pointer to make the score 79-76 forcing the Aces to call another timeout with 3:40 left on the clock.
The Aces misplayed the clock on the inbounds and turned the ball over on a shot clock violation and then Wheeler hit a three-pointer on the other end to cut the Storm deficit to three points. Chelsea Gray then was hit with a transition take foul, which put Seattle on the line for one free throw. Wheeler made the free shot and the Aces lead had shrunk to two points 79-77 with just 2:35 left to go.
Young made an open reverse layup and was fouled by Malonga for the “and one.” After making the free throw, the Aces lead was pushed back to five points. Wheeler’s step back jump shot got two of those points back but then she picked up her fifth foul and sent Loyd to the line. The Aces guard made one of two free throws and Las Vegas led 83-79 with 1:04 left.
Diggins hit a pullup jump shot to cut the deficit to two points. Wilson missed a shot on the other end, which was rebounded by Ogwumike. The possession ended with a Malonga layup and free throw after getting fouled by Gray. Seattle now took an 84-83 lead and the Aces calling timeout with 27.7 second left in the contest.
Gray received the inbounds pass then threw it out of bounds intended for Young. Diggins then hit a midrange jumper with 4.2 seconds left to go up by three. Loyd attempted a three-pointer to tie as time expired but it fell short. Seattle came from 14 points behind to win 86-83 and force a decisive Game 3. The Storm closed out on a 16-4 run in the final five minutes.
Seattle went 33-for-72 (45.8 percent) from the field; 10-for-20 (50.0 percent) from three point range; and 10-for-12 (83.3 percent) from the free throw line. They committed 10 turnovers for 11 Aces points.
“We took care of the ball in this particular game. I think defensively we were getting stops and we were playing in more transition and flow,” said Storm head coach Noelle Quinn. “Then in the fourth quarter we were able to identify mismatches that we wanted to take care of. We executed well. Shot the three well.”
Las Vegas went 28-for-56 (50.0 percent) from the field; 7-for-19 (36.8 percent) from three-point range; and 20-for-29 (69.0 percent) from the charity stripe. The turned the ball over 15 times leading to 18 Storm points.
“We didn’t match their physicality in the first half. I thought we did a better job coming out in the third. We had an eight, nine point lead going into the fourth quarter. You’ve got to protect that,” said Aces head coach Becky Hammon. “It’s a shame. I feel like we let that one go with our porous soft defense down the stretch.”
The Storm led in all major statistical categories: 34-30 in points-in-the-paint; 5-4 in second chance points; 16-4 in fast break points; and 22-16 in bench scoring. There were three ties and nine lead changes. The largest lead for Las Vegas was 14 while the Seattle largest lead was four.
“I thought coming into timeouts and huddles our posture was positive. It was confident and never wavered,” said Quinn.
The Storm was led by 26 points from Skylar Diggins. Nneka Ogwumike added 24 points, Dominique Malonga pitched in for 11 points and Erica Wheeler added 11 as well. Ogwumike led the Storm with 10 rebounds while Diggins paced the team with seven assists.
“Everybody made big shots all night and big plays for us, so it just came down to that,” said Diggins. “We didn’t react. We responded. We talked about some of the adjustments we wanted to make and we were able to make them.”
The Aces were led by Jackie Young’s 25 points. A’ja Wilson added 21 points and Jewell Loyd added 13 points. Wilson led all rebounders with 13 boards while Chelsea Gray dished a game-high nine assists.
“Regardless of who we’re playing, it comes down to execution,” said Loyd. “We didn’t execute our stuff at a high level tonight on both ends of the floor, and that led to us losing tonight.”
The teams will meet up Thursday at 8:30 p.m. CT for the decisive Game 3 of Round 1 action at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas.
