Rookie Flau’jae Johnson scored a career-high 28 points and Dominique Malonga added 20 points and 10 rebounds as the Seattle Storm snapped a franchise-record 11-game losing streak with a 99-88 victory against the visiting New York Liberty on Thursday night.
Jade Melbourne added 18 points and seven assists, Awa Fam scored 15 and Natisha Hiedeman had 11 points for the Storm (4-15).
Jonquel Jones led New York (12-7) with 26 points and eight rebounds. Leonie Fiebich added 19 points and Sabrina Ionescu had 14 points and five assists.
The Liberty played without two-thirds of their starting frontcourt as Satou Sabally (concussion protocol) and Breanna Stewart (rest) sat out. Stewart, who was named WNBA Finals MVP when the Storm won titles in 2018 and 2020, was honored on the video boards at Climate Pledge Arena during a timeout in the first half.
The Storm converted 52.0% of their shots from the field (39 of 75), including 9 of 28 (32.1%) from 3-point range. New York shot 45.1% (32 of 71) and was 10 of 36 (27.8%) from distance. Seattle had a 39-28 rebounding advantage.
The Storm led by as many as 16 points on Fam’s 3-pointer with 6:45 remaining in the game. New York pulled within 89-81 on a jumper by Ionescu with 4 minutes left but was unable to get any closer.
The Liberty trimmed their deficit to three points with 4:31 left in the third quarter before Melbourne took over. Melbourne, who had just two points up until that point, scored nine points in a span of 3:14, including into a three-point play that she started with a steal, to give Seattle a 13-point lead. Melbourne also assisted on Johnson’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer that gave the Storm a 72-60 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Seattle led by as many as 11 points in the second quarter before Fiebich’s three-point play with three seconds left trimmed the deficit to 48-40 at the intermission.
The Storm led 28-24 after the first quarter. Seattle built a 23-15 lead before the Liberty pulled ahead with a 9-0 run, sparked by a 3-pointer from Fiebich, who also added a driving layup during the streak. Fam’s 3-pointer ended the run and Katie Lou Samuelson made a putback to close out the quarter.
–Field Level Media
