The Seattle Storm came close against one of the league’s best teams but still wound up with their 10th consecutive loss.
They will try to end their franchise-worst streak when they visit the Chicago Sky on Friday night.
Seattle led the New York Liberty heading into the fourth quarter, then got outscored 32-22 over the final 10 minutes in an 86-82 defeat on Tuesday.
All-Star Jewell Loyd carried the Storm with 32 points but, once again, it wasn’t enough.
“This game felt different for us,” Loyd said. “We made some adjustments coming into the game that will be beneficial for us moving forward. Down the stretch we just didn’t close it out.”
Seattle (4-19) actually built an 18-point advantage early in the second half, but New York sliced the advantage to single digits before the third quarter ended.
“Bad offense and turning the ball over,” Storm coach Noelle Quinn said of the second-half collapse. “They transitioned early. There’s synergy between our offense and defense. A lot of times if we’re not taking good shots, that doesn’t get our defense back. During the midst of it, just a lot of bad offense.”
The Sky (9-14) haven’t played much better of late. They have dropped five of their last six contests, with the lone victory coming at the Storm’s expense. They won at Seattle on Saturday 90-75 behind Kahleah Copper’s 29 points.
Copper poured in a career-high 37 points on Tuesday but Chicago couldn’t match the offensive power of league-leader Las Vegas, which had a trio of players exceed 20 points in its 107-95 victory.
“They punished us for every little mistake we made,” Sky interim coach Emre Vatansever said.
The Sky gave up 22 fast-break points and allowed 50 points in the paint. The Aces also made 24 of their 27 free-throw attempts.
“When teams are penetrating and getting in the paint, you want to force them to make tough shots,” Chicago center Elizabeth Williams said. “If we could reduce some of the free throws and fast-break points, that would have put us in a better position.”
–Field Level Media
