The Storm showed much improved team play and beat the Minnesota Lynx last night 78-64.

The Lynx, who are the first seed in the Western Conference, played without their best 3 players, Maya Moore, Lindsay Whalen, and Seimone Augustus, all recovering from injuries and/or resting up before they make another championship run in this year’s playoffs.  Together, they average a total of 49 points, 13.9 rebounds, and 10.6 assists.  So that may have had a TINY impact on the way things turned out.

The Storm only had 9 turnovers this game, an impressive feat considering they were again without Sue Bird (resting) and after averaging 18 per game for the past 5 games.  Even better, Jewel Loyd didn’t lose the ball once (although she also didn’t get any assists, so no help on her assist to turnover ratio).

Sylvia Fowles came out on fire for the Lynx, hitting 4/7 in the first quarter for 8 points.  In fact, Minnesota shot nearly 50% in that quarter, while the Storm shot just over 30%.  Thankfully, the Lynx led only 19-16 after 10 minutes of play.

Seattle started the second quarter strong, going on on an 10-2 run and putting them ahead 26-23.  Kaleena Mosqueda Lewis was an integral part of the Storm’s success, getting two really nice assists, a steal, a rebound, a block, and 7 points.  Overall, the Storm improved their field goal percentage to 42.4% and led 39-33 by halftime.

The Storm started the third quarter on another 8-2 run.  The Lynx narrowed it down to as close as 52-48 with a couple of jumpers by Asjha Jones, but Seattle weathered the assault and went on a 8-0 run of their own.

The fourth quarter didn’t have a lot of flow because the referees just wouldn’t let them play, calling 16 fouls in the quarter alone.  The game turned into a bit of a free throw shooting contest, but luckily the Lynx only made 9 of their 14 free throw attempts and the Storm were able to pull through and win 78-64.

Scoring was pretty even across the board for the Storm. Angel Goodrich had a season high 11 points to go along with her 5 assists and 3 steals.  Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis had a career high 16 points as well as 4 assists and rebounds apiece.  She also had a really mean steal which she then threw down the entire court for an easy layup by Alysha Clark (9 points, 3 rebounds).  Jewel got 14 points in her usual cut-to-the-basket style and Markeisha Gatling had a double-double with 10 rebounds, 10 points.

On the Lynx end, Sylvia Fowles had a monster game with 21 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 blocked shots.  Renee Montgomery also stuck it to the Storm for trading her, scoring 13 and dealing 4 assists.  Asjia Jones had 11 points, 6 rebounds.  Anna Cruz was a little quieter this game, scoring only 8 with 4 assists and 3 rebounds.

Tomorrow’s game will be the last of the regular season!  It remains unclear how the WNBA will decide who gets the best draft odds in the event that two teams tie for the worst two-year cumulative record (as is likely to happen, if the Storm win against San Antonio).  The race to Breanna Stewart continues!