Breanna Stewart collected 21 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists to help the host Seattle Storm complete a first-round sweep of the Washington Mystics, courtesy of a 97-84 victory in Game 2 on Sunday.
Stewart scored 17 points in the second half after going 0-for-5 from the floor with four points before intermission.
Jewell Loyd sank five 3-pointers and finished with 19 points for the fourth-seeded Storm, who advanced to the second round of the playoffs for the fifth straight year.
Seattle will visit the top-seeded Las Vegas Aces in Game 1 of the best-of-five semifinal series on Sunday.
The Storm’s Sue Bird recorded 18 points and 10 assists. She made 4 of 6 shots from 3-point range for the Storm, who shot 52.2 percent from beyond the arc.
Gabby Williams scored 14 points before suffering a concussion in the third quarter. She did not return to the game.
Natasha Cloud scored 21 points and Ariel Atkins added 15 and seven assists for the fifth-seeded Mystics.
Former Storm player Alysha Clark drained a 3-pointer to pull Washington within one before Seattle scored the next nine points in the third quarter. Bird had four of those and set up Stephanie Talbot’s 3-pointer to give the Storm a 63-53 lead.
Ezi Magbegor scored from the interior, and Loyd and Stewart each made a 3-pointer to push Seattle’s lead to 79-63 with 8:15 to play in the game.
Cloud hit a 3-pointer to bring Washington within nine points with 4:44 remaining; however, Stewart sank three free throws to halt the momentum. Tina Charles scored from the intertior, and Bird stole the ball and converted a fast-break layup to effectively seal the win.
Bird drained her third 3-pointer in as many attempts to give Seattle a 21-14 lead. The 13-time All-Star followed that on the next possession by deftly tossing a no-look pass to a cutting Williams for an easy layup.
Washington, however, scored 15 of the first 19 points of the second quarter to secure a 32-31 lead. The teams remained within striking distance of each other for the rest of the quarter before Williams’ layup with 10 seconds remaining gave the Storm a 45-43 advantage at halftime.
–Field Level Media
