Rookie Flau’jae Johnson scored 20 points to lead a balanced attack as the host Seattle Storm defeated the Toronto Tempo 90-78 on Wednesday.
Dominique Malonga added 18 points and seven rebounds and Jade Melbourne had 16 points, seven assists and six boards for the last-place Storm (8-31), who snapped a three-game losing streak. It was Seattle’s second win in 16 games.
Awa Fam and Zia Cooke scored 10 points apiece off the bench for Seattle, which avoided a three-game sweep by the expansion Tempo in the teams’ season series.
Rookie Kiki Rice scored a season-high 24 points and had five assists for the Tempo (11-27), who have lost two in a row and 14 of the past 15. Isabelle Harrison added 17 points and 14 rebounds, and Laura Juskaite had 14 points, nine rebounds and three assists.
The Storm shot 44.3% from the field (35 of 79), including 22.2% (6 of 27) from 3-point range. The Tempo shot 37.1% (26 of 70) and made 15.4% (4 of 26) from long distance. Toronto held a 43-37 rebounding edge.
The Storm took a 64-61 lead into the fourth quarter.
Katie Lou Samuelson’s 3-pointer, a pair of driving layups by Melbourne, two jumpers by Malonga and two baskets by Johnson helped Seattle extend its advantage to 83-69, its largest of the game.
Juskaite made a three-point play with 4:50 left in the third to give Toronto a 57-53 lead.
A driving layup by Cooke and two free throws by Fam tied the score before Stefanie Dolson made a jumper to cap a 6-0 run that put Seattle ahead for good at 59-57. Cooke made two more foul shots and Fam drained a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 64-58.
The Storm overcame a six-point deficit to take a 43-42 lead into halftime after Fam made a 3-pointer with 3.9 seconds remaining.
Rice scored 12 in the second quarter for Toronto. She poured in 10 points during a 16-6 run in the opening 3:57 of the period to put the Tempo up 35-29.
Melbourne scored nine points in the first quarter as Seattle took a 23-19 lead.
Both teams were short-handed.
All-Star Marina Mabrey (adductor), Brittney Sykes (foot), Nyara Sabally (calf) and Aneesah Morrow (knee) didn’t play for the Tempo. Sykes and Morrow were ruled out for the remainder of the season this week. Team officials said Mabrey, who averaged a team-best 20.8 points per game, would be “evaluated in a few weeks.”
Seattle played its third straight game without guard Natisha Hiedeman (shoulder), who averages 15.4 points and a team-high 4.8 assists per contest.
–Field Level Media
