Breanna Stewart scored 23 points and five teammates also scored in double figures as the visiting Seattle Storm rolled to a 19-point halftime lead and coasted to a 106-69 victory over the Los Angeles Sparks on Thursday night.
Tina Charles came off the bench to score 18 points, Jewell Loyd added 16 points and seven assists, Stephanie Talbot scored 13, Gabby Williams had 11 and Ezi Magbegor had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Storm (15-8) in the final WNBA game before the All-Star Break.
Lexie Brown scored 16 points, Liz Cambage and Jordin Canada each had 14, and Nneka Ogwumike added 10 to lead the Sparks (10-12), who saw their season-best three-game winning streak end.
Charles single-handedly outscored the Sparks bench, which totaled six points, as Seattle had a season-high point total.
Seattle took control of the game by outscoring Los Angeles 32-18 in the second quarter.
The Sparks quickly trimmed a 19-point halftime deficit to 14 early in the third quarter.
But a 3-pointer by Briann January and a basket by Magbegor gave Seattle a 62-43 advantage.
The lead grew to 74-49 on a layup by Charles before taking a 79-58 lead into the fourth quarter.
Stewart set the tone from the outset as she scored 12 points and the Storm took a 19-14 lead at the end of the first quarter.
She made a 3-pointer that expanded Seattle’s lead to 43-23 early in the second quarter.
The Storm led by as many as 21 points before Lexie Brown’s basket beat the buzzer and trimmed the lead to 51-32 at halftime.
Seattle had three scorers in double figures at halftime as Stewart scored 19, Loyd added 11 and Charles had 10 off the bench.
The Storm seized control by making 57.6 percent of its field-goal attempts (19 of 33) in the first half.
–Field Level Media
