Ezi Magbegor scored 18 points and Jordan Horston added 16 to lead five Seattle players scoring in double figures and the Storm beat the visiting Atlanta Dream 81-70 Sunday.
Jewell Loyd had 14 points and seven assists, Sami Whitcomb scored 13 and Nneka Ogwumike finished with 10 points, 12 rebounds, two steals and two blocks for the Storm (16-8).
Maya Caldwell scored a career-high 19 points to lead the Dream (7-16) and Aerial Powers added 14 points, Tina Charles and Allisha Gray scored 12 apiece. The Dream have lost seven straight games and 10 of 11.
Rhyne Howard, the 2022 WNBA rookie of the year and a two-time WNBA All-Star, missed her 10th consecutive game since she suffered an ankle injury June 19. The Dream’s win at Connecticut on June 28 is their only victory since Howard went down.
Atlanta cut its deficit to a point on two occasions early in the fourth quarter but the Storm answered each time and used a 13-2 run, beginning with two free throws by Loyd with 5:33 to play, that gave Seattle its biggest lead of the game when Horston’s layup capped the spurt and made it 81-67 with 1:42 remaining.
After the Dream was called for technical foul (defensive 3-seconds), Skylar Diggins-Smith hit the free throws, Victoria Vivians made a 3-pointer and Whitcomb followed with a pair of 3s just 36 seconds apart before Owgumike hit a step-back jumper on the baseline to give Seattle a 40-30 lead and cap a 12-0 run with 6:16 left in the first half. The Storm led the rest of the way.
Seattle didn’t score again until Whitcomb hit two free throws with 1:21 left. Despite missing their final 11 field-goal attempts of the second quarter, the Storm led 42-36 at halftime.
Seattle had eight steals — including two apiece for Diggins-Smith, Whitcomb and Horston — and forced 11 Dream turnovers in the first half. The Storm had 13 assists on 16 field goals while shooting 40% (16 for 40) overall and hitting 4 of 15 (27%) from 3-point range.
Diggins-Smith left the game (ankle) late in the first half after a collision with Atlanta’s Gray and did not return.
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