Sue Bird leads as Seattle Storm beat Washington Mystics 79-71 – WNBA Recap
Sue Bird scored a game-high 22 points, including 15 in the first half as Seattle Storm edged past the Washington Mystics 79-71 on Tuesday night enroute to their second consecutive victory.
Bird, who was recently named the as the WNBA ‘players of the week for the games played in the week spanning from July 5-10, finished on 8 for 14 from the field including 2 for 4 from three-point range, and 4 for 5 from free throw
line.
Storm coach Brian Agler praised the brilliant performance of Bird and said, "She's a player who contributes in a lot of different ways, and she makes her teammates better around her, and that's sort of her strength. But she has
the ability to score, too, and that is why she is world-class. She can do both.”
Swin Cash also contributed 20 points, six rebounds, four steals and three assists. Cash shot 6 for 12 from the floor and 8 for 9 from free throw line. Camille Little ended the game with 12 points, four rebounds and three steals.
Marissa Coleman led Washington with a team-high 16 points, on a 6 for 9 effort from the field including 4 for 6 from beyond the arc, and a game high nine rebounds. Matee Ajavon contributed 13 points, seven assists and three steals
for Mystics, who lost their third game on a trot.
Washington’s season top scorer, Crystal Langhorne, who returned to floor after missing the previous three games because of back pain finished with 10 points in nearly 33 minutes of action.
Seattle set the pace early and jumped out to a 9-3 lead. Few minutes later, they stretched their advantage to 10 points, 17-7, with 03:28 to go in the first quarter. Washington answered back with a 5-2 run to cut the margin to
seven, but Cash, with almost a minute to go in the quarter, slipped in two consecutive lay-ups to stretch the lead to 11 points, 23-12.
Dunlap however responded immediately with two jumpers in the last 41 seconds of the quarter cut the lead back to seven points, 23-16. Storm continued to dominate until late in the second quarter, when the Mystics put together a
4-0 run that cut the deficit to 36-32.
Bird and Wright combined for the next five points though as Seattle raced to a 41-32 lead. By the time, first half ended, Seattle were leading the Mystics 43-37.
Just like the first two quarters, Seattle made inroads early in the third quarter and sprinted to a 12-point lead, 54-42. The Mystics however again managed to make a surge deep in the period and trimmed Seattle’s lead to four,
heading into the last quarter.
Washington continued to fight back and got within 66-64 with 06:58 to go in the fourth quarter. However, Storm put together a 7-0 run that put them ahead by 73-64 and the game to bed.
Tags: