Written By: Danny Williams
Twitter: danny_w22
(Seattle, WA) – It wasn’t pretty, but the Seattle Storm (8-31) found a way to pull out the victory over the Toronto Tempo (11-27), 90-78. A 46-37 second-half showing from Seattle propelled it to victory after a lack-luster first half which saw it shoot just 40%. The Storm were without starting point guard Natisha Hiedeman, but Zia Cooke and Jade Melbourne combined for 26 points in her absence.
Flau’jae Johnson led the team in scoring with 20 points (9-15 FG), her second-straight 20-point performance. Johnson also becomes just the second Storm rookie to score over 500 points in their rookie season, joining Storm legend Breanna Stewart as the only other player in franchise history to accomplish the feat.
Dominique Malonga scored 18 points (9-19 FG) and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. Melbourne contributed 16 points (5-10 FG) and grabbed six rebounds and dished out a game-high seven assists. Off the bench, Awa Fam and Zia Cooke both scored 10 points while Katie Lou Samuelson added eight points and hit two three-pointers. The Storm outscored the Tempo 30-11 in bench points.
“I thought Zia made a heap of big plays tonight which was really cool, but it’s a collective effort, we’re 1-12 deep, so when [the bench] comes in we’re getting just as excited as they are for us to start the game.” Melbourne said.
The Storm defense hounded the Tempo offensive attack. The Tempo shot just 37.1% (26-70 FG) and 15.4% (4-26 FG) from three-point range. The Storm also blocked eight shots and racked up a whopping 13 steals, forcing 17 turnovers. The Storm scored 25 points off turnovers to the Tempo’s 15.
“I thought we had really good rotations, I felt like we were all helping each other out, one person went out, another person was rotating or even overrotating sometimes. We were just over-helping each other, knowing that they have a lot of hot players and players that shoot the three really well, so being in our shifts and being where we’re supposed to be really helped us,” Johnson said.
Toronto Tempo
The Tempo were without their leading scorer Marina Mabrey and the offense suffered because of it. Rookie Kiki Rice led the Tempo with 24 points (6-12 FG) and went 11-11 at the free throw line. The Tempo shot 28 free throws to the Storm’s 18.
Isabelle Harrison scored 17 points (5-16 FG) and grabbed 14 rebounds, five offensive. The Tempo out-rebounded the Storm 43-37. Laura Juškaitė scored 14 points (6-11 FG).
Game Breakdown
Laura Juškaitė kicked off the game with a driving layup for Toronto. Flau’jae Johnson answered with a mid-range jumper. Maria Conde scored inside and Johnson went to the line for two and split the pair. Kiki Rice drove for a score and Johnson scored on a fast break. Melbourne scored seven consecutive points, and Juškaitė answered with five for Toronto. Dominique Malonga got on the board with a put-back. Isabelle Harrison was fouled and the Storm led 14-11 at the media timeout.
Harrison made both and scored again to give the Tempo the lead, 15-14. Harrison made it five-in-a-row with another free throw. Melbourne got back to the line and made both. Zia Cooke scored her first point at the foul line, giving the lead back to the Storm. The next trip down she drilled a three. Kiana Williams dashed to the hoop for two, but Katie Lou Samuelson responded with an AND-1. Temi Fágbénlé split two free throws for the Tempo and the Storm ended the first quarter up 23-19.
Harrison started the second quarter with a bucket inside. Rice added two more free throws, and Harrison scored again inside. A 6-0 run gave the Tempo a 25-23 lead. Malonga responded to quickly tie it back up and Ezi Magbegor scored inside to give the Storm back the lead. Juškaitė tied it once again and Rice went back to the line for an AND-1. Johnson drilled a jumper, but Rice hit a three, her eighth point of the quarter. She quickly made it 10 with a nifty reverse layup and forced the Storm to call a time out, trailing 35-29.
Magbegor scored on a nice feed from Jordan Horston out of the break. Malonga drove to the hoop and Johnson drilled a three to cap a 7-0 Storm run. Teonni Key scored out of the break for the Tempo. Melbourne finished at the rim on a backdoor cut and Kia Nurse hit a three-pointer for the Tempo. Rice scored at the rim and Malonga followed suit on the other end. Awa Fam ended the half with a corner three and gave the Storm a 43-42 lead at the midway point.
Neither team shot well in the first half, 40% (16-40 FG) for the Storm and 39% (16-41) for the Tempo. The Tempo out-rebounded the Storm 27-16. The Tempo committed eight turnovers to the Storm’s five and the Seattle scored 12 points off turnovers.Rice ended the first half with 14 points and Melbourne had 11 for the Storm.
Fágbénlé scored inside to start the second half for Toronto and Rice made two more free throws. Conde drove inside and the Tempo got out to a 6-0 start. Malonga finally got the Storm on the board. Magbegor drove for two and Fágbénlé answered. Johnson hit a mid range jumper and Harrison finished inside for the Tempo. Rice went back to the line after a Horston turnover and made both. Fam had an offensive putback off a Malonga miss and Johnson drove to the basket to cut the Tempo lead to one. Juškaitė got to the rim for an AND-1 and the Tempo led 56-53 at the media timeout.
Cooke scored the first points out of the break and Fam got two more at the foul line. Cooke fed Dolson with a nice pocket pass and the Storm took the lead 59-57. Nurse drew a foul and stopped the Storm run and split the free throws. Cooke continued her stellar third quarter, drawing a foul and hitting both shots. Fam hit another three and Harrison answered for Toronto. Ornella Bankole split free throws for the Tempo and the Storm led after three quarters, 64-61.
Cooke picked up right where she left off, heading to the line for two more to begin the fourth quarter. Malonga scored again inside and Samuelson nailed a three, giving the Storm a 71-63 lead. Melbourne drove to the rack for an AND-1 and put the Storm up a game-high 10 points. Fágbénlé responded with a three, but Cooke found Malonga for two more and Melbourne scored again. Juškaitė drove for two and two missed layups for the Storm forced head coach Sonia Raman to call a time out.
Johnson followed her own shot for two out of the break and Malonga hit a short jumper to put the Storm up by 13. Harrison was fouled and split. Johnson drove for two more, but Rice answered on the other end. Harrison got to the line back-to-back times and made three out of four. Samuelson scored inside and the Tempo called time. Rice got the Tempo in the bonus and made four more free throws. The Tempo sent Melbourne to the line and she split a pair. Johnson nailed a jumper with 22 seconds left to seal the win for the Storm, 90-78.
Final Box Score
Player Interviews
Jade Melbourne and Flau’jae Johnson:
Coach’s Quotes
Coach Raman post-game:
Up Next
The Seattle Storm (8-31) have one more home game before the FIBA World Cup break. They host the Los Angeles Sparks (13-25) on Sunday, August 30th at 2 p.m.
Notes:
Photography Credits: Seattle Storm/WNBA Photography
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For the life of me I don’t understand why the Storm are such a crappy rebounding team. With their overall height and wingspan they ought to dominate the boards. Yet they don’t. So is that crappy coaching? Or are the players just unwilling to do what it takes? I did note that one of the league’s highest paid players pulled down one (1) rebound in 18 ½ minutes of playing time. Where is the effort? I’m also starting to to suspect that the coaches have designed an offensive built around the 3-pt line when we have sub-caliber shooters. This off-season should be wild.