SEATTLE–- With the season on the road, rookie Dominique Malonga gave the Seattle Storm the ninth and ultimate lead change of Recreation 2 with an old school three-point play that put her staff up 84-83 over the Las Vegas Aces with 31 seconds remaining. Veteran guard Skylar Diggins prolonged the result in 86-83 with a 19-foot pull-up leap shot over Aces guard Jackie Younger with 4.2 second left in regulation to virtually ice the sport.
One missed Jewell Loyd three-point try later, the Storm lived to play one other recreation.
“When I’ve that mindset, no person can keep in entrance of me,” Diggins, who completed the sport with 26 factors and 7 rebounds, stated about her cold-blooded mentality.
Within the first recreation of the best-of-three first-round sequence, the No. 2 Aces crushed the No. 7 Storm 102-77. Despite the fact that Seattle had home-court benefit in Recreation 2, it seemed for a lot of the sport on Tuesday night time just like the Aces would sweep the sequence and proceed their 17-game profitable streak.
Las Vegas led by as many as 14 factors within the first 20 minutes and outscored Seattle 24-17 within the third body. However every little thing modified within the fourth quarter, when the Storm outscored the Aces 25-14, together with a 16-4 run to finish the sport.
“Our protection allow us to down,” Vegas head coach Becky Hammon informed the media postgame “Beside the third quarter … I believed our protection was a step behind.” she added.
Seattle head coach Noelle Quinn stored her rotations tight, opting to solely make the most of Malonga and veteran guard Erica Wheeler off the bench. On the shut of the third, the Las Vegas bench had the sting 15-8 edge over Seattle, and all eight Storm bench factors had been from Malonga. However Wheeler got here alive within the fourth, fueling the Storm’s surge with 11 factors, together with a 3-pointer late within the recreation to get her staff with in three.
Malonga, a 19-year-old rookie out of France, ended the night time 4 of seven for 11 factors and 10 rebounds; her go-ahead bucket within the ultimate minute wowed everybody in Local weather Pledge Area.
“She’s lengthy, she’s athletic .. we may have been extra environment friendly together with her for positive,” Hammon stated.
“There’s an evolution in each single recreation,” Storm ahead Nneka Ogwumike, who had 24 factors, 10 rebounds and three assists, stated of Malonga. “She’s simply studying and bettering that a lot, and we simply attempt our greatest to proceed to empower her to know the way really succesful she is.”
The heroic from Malonga, Wheeler and Diggins had been additionally a results of a targeted and decided Storm staff. “Tonight, we got here to the sport,” Diggins stated postgame. “We gained the rebounding recreation, that was a giant deal for us.”
Inconsistency has plagued Seattle, however the Storm battled again by their protection, forcing Vegas into 15 turnovers for 18 factors. Seattle additionally outscored the Aces 16-4 on the quick break.
“Right now was the most effective showings of composure,” Nneka Ogwumike stated. Seattle took care of the ball and held the Aces star A’ja Wilson scoreless within the final seven minutes of the sport.
Together with Recreation 2, the Storm and Aces have equally break up their six video games in 2025. The winner of Recreation 3, which happen in Vegas on Thursday at 9:30 p.m. ET, will face the winner of the sequence between the No. 3 Atlanta Dream and No. 6 Indiana Fever, which additionally was pushed to a Recreation 3 on Tuesday night time.
