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Despite a 91-87 loss to the Minnesota Lynx on Tuesday night, Seattle Storm head coach Noelle Quinn praised her team’s determination and fight down the stretch.
“I’m just going to continue to applaud the group for their resiliency and putting us in a position to be in a one possession game at the end,” Quinn said, as reported by Sophia Vesely of The Seattle Times. “(We had) different circumstances throughout the game, one timeout left for an entire quarter, so yeah, commending the group for their effort, but hopefully it turns into some wins pretty soon.”
Seattle (16-14) trailed by as many as 10 points but trimmed the deficit to 89-87 in the final seconds after three-pointers by Skylar Diggins and Erica Wheeler. Minnesota’s Kayla McBride sealed the win with two free throws, part of her perfect 6-for-6 mark from the line in the final 30 seconds.
“That’s the push that we’ve been giving,” Wheeler said. “But we’ve got to get over the hump. We’ve been too close in these games. … We have enough, we just have to sustain the game.”
Nneka Ogwumike led the Storm with 23 points, surpassing Lauren Jackson and DeWanna Bonner for seventh in WNBA history with 140 career 20-point games. Wheeler added 19 points, while Diggins and rookie Dominique Malonga chipped in 11 and 12 points, respectively.
Gabby Williams sets Seattle Storm record
Gabby Williams scored nine points and had three steals, breaking the Storm’s single-season steals record with 77. Natasha Howard previously held the mark with 74 in 2019. Williams now leads the WNBA in steals per game at 2.6.
“She should be an All-Defensive team member, in my opinion, if not the top of people’s minds when thinking about (Defensive) Player of the Year,” Quinn said. “Defensively, she’s covering, most of the time, the other team’s most potent perimeter player.”
Seattle has now lost three straight and four of five. The team will travel to face the Las Vegas Aces on Friday after acquiring All-Star guard Brittney Sykes in a trade earlier Tuesday.
Information from the Associated Press contributed to this article.
