Magbegor scores 18 points and leads Seattle Storm to 81-70 win over Atlanta Dream

SEATTLE (AP) — Ezi Magbegor scored 18 points and Jordan Horston added 16 to lead five Seattle players in double figures and the Storm beat the Atlanta Dream 81-70 on Sunday.

Seattle Storm 81, Atlanta Dream 70: Scoreboard

Jewell Loyd scored 14 points and had seven assists, Sami Whitcomb had 13 points and Nneka Ogwumike finished with 10 points, 12 rebounds, two steals and two blocks for the Storm (16-8).

Atlanta cut its deficit to one point twice early in the fourth quarter, but the Storm responded each time and used a 13-2 run, starting with two free throws by Loyd with 5:33 left, that gave Seattle its largest lead of the game when Horston’s layup capped the drive and made it 81-67 with 1:42 remaining.

Atlanta (7-16) has lost seven straight games and 10 of 11. Rhyne Howard, the 2022 WNBA Rookie of the Year and two-time WNBA All-Star, has missed 10 straight games since injuring her ankle in a 68-55 loss to the Minnesota Lynx on June 19 in Minneapolis. The Dream’s 78-74 victory at Connecticut on June 28 was their only win since Howard went down.

Ezi Magbegor showed his efficiency with 18 PTS on 8-11 shooting, 72.7% from the field 🙏

Magbegor also had 5 REB, 3 BLK in the win over the Dream #WelcometoW pic.twitter.com/Pwf1GT0huF

— WNBA (@WNBA) July 15, 2024

Maya Caldwell scored a career-high 19 points to lead the Dream and Aerial Powers added 14 points, Tina Charles and Allisha Gray each scored 12 points.

After the Dream was called for a technical foul (3 seconds defensive), Skylar Diggins-Smith hit the free throws, Victoria Vivians hit a three-pointer and Whitcomb followed with a pair of three-pointers just 36 seconds apart before Owgumike hit a step-back shot from the baseline to give Seattle a 40-30 lead and cap a 12-0 run with 6:16 left in the first half. The Storm led the rest of the game.

Seattle didn’t score again until Whitcomb hit two free throws with 1:21 left. Despite missing the last 11 shots of the second quarter, the Storm led 42-36 at halftime.

Seattle had eight steals, including two each from Diggins-Smith, Whitcomb and Horston, and forced 11 Dream turnovers in the first half. The Storm had 13 assists on 16 field goals while shooting 40 percent (16 of 40) overall and going 4 of 15 (27 percent) from three-point range.

Diggins-Smith left the game (ankle) late in the first half after a collision with Atlanta’s Allisha Gray and did not return.

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