Aug 2, 2020
Stewart, Storm bounce back, beat Sparks without Bird
Breanna Stewart had 21 points, nine rebounds, five assists and four steals and the Seattle Storm never trailed in their 81-75 win over the Los Angeles Sparks on Saturday night.
The Canadian Press
BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) — Breanna Stewart had 21 points, nine rebounds, five assists and four steals and the Seattle Storm never trailed in their 81-75 win over the Los Angeles Sparks on Saturday night.
Jewell Loyd added 17 points, Jordin Canada — starting in place of Sue Bird (rest) — scored a season-high 16 and rookie Ezi Magbegor had a career-high 12 points for Seattle.
The Storm (3-1) bounced back from an 89-71 loss to the Washington Mystics on Thursday.
Candace Parker had 19 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Sparks (2-2). Riquna Williams hit 4 of 7 from 3-point range and finished with 16 points and Nneka Ogwumike scored 14.
Canada’s short jumper midway through the fourth quarter ended the Storm’s streak of nearly eight minutes without a field goal and Loyd followed with a 3-pointer to make it 73-65 with 4:19 to go. Parker and Ogwumike made baskets 13 seconds apart to make it a four-point game with two minutes remaining but neither team scored again until Canada made two free throws with 35.5 seconds to play that made it 79-73. Chelsea Gray made a putback of a missed 3-pointer by Brittney Sykes but Magbegor answered with a layup less than two seconds later to cap the scoring.
Seattle scored the first nine points and led 14-1 after Canada made a layup fewer than four minutes into the game and took a 16-point lead into halftime. Williams hit three third-quarter 3-pointers and the Sparks trimmed their deficit to 65-55 going into the fourth and after Stewart made 1-of-2 free throws, Seimone Augustus, who finished with 12 points, hit a jumper and then back-to-back 3s to pull Los Angeles within three with 6:48 to play.