SEATTLE – They’re in.

Erica Wheeler drained the go-ahead basket with 18.5 seconds left for the last of her 17 points, and the Seattle Storm clinched a WNBA playoff berth on Tuesday night by fending off the Golden State Valkyries inside Climate Pledge Arena, 74-73.

Nneka Ogwumike had 18 points for Seattle and Brittney Sykes added 14. Skylar Diggins had 10 alongside six assists, giving her 258 to break her own single-season team record of 257, which she set last year.

While the Storm have secured their spot in the playoffs, they won’t know their seeding until after Thursday’s final games. Seattle will either be No. 7 or No. 8. In either case, it will open the best-of-3 first round on the road on Sunday, September 14 against an opponent and at a time yet to be determined.

Regardless of how all of those details ultimately pan out, the spot is theirs. It no longer matters whether Los Angeles wins or loses its final game on Thursday.

“Different things come into play, and you don’t ever want to rely on other people to win or lose,” Head Coach Noelle Quinn said. “To be able to seize the moment and take care of business on your home court against a team that is trending positively shows a lot of resilience. But we also can breathe a little bit to know that we’re in and not having to rely on other people to control our future.”

In front of a sellout crowd of 12,500 fans, the lead changed hands four times in the last three minutes of the game.

The Valkyries got two shot attempts during the final possession, but both fell short. In a scramble under the basket, Wheeler secured the rebound.

“We knew how important this game was to get into postseason. Yeah, that shot won the game, but it was a team effort,” Wheeler said. “We did everything we had to do as a team. It so happened that I was the last one to take a shot, and I was grateful to be in that position. But it’s always about the team. I’m going to do whatever I’ve got to do to help the team win.”

“That was a big shot at a big moment. She has had multiple moments like that this year,” added Quinn. “The trust we have in her, that her teammates have in her – she puts in the work, and she’s a really good shooter. To have somebody come off the bench and give us a boost that was needed at both ends of the floor – not just one end of the floor – she has done that all season.”

The Storm limited Golden State to just 12 points in the last quarter on 5-of-20 shooting.

“We could say we were able to win a game like this from experience,” Ogwumike said. “We’ve been in a lot of tight games to the end. Over time, we’ve been able to train that muscle, and to be able to win in what ultimately was a playoff environment – even a lot of the games we played in August felt like a playoff environment – I can’t help but believe that it’s going to prepare us for what we’re going to experience in the postseason.”

“It’s a step in the right direction, and coming out on top is really what we wanted,” added Ogwumike. 

Rookie center Dominique Malonga finished with nine points, with eight of those in the paint. That gives her 262 paint points for the season, a WNBA record for a reserve player.

Ezi Magbegor pulled down nine of Seattle’s 37 rebounds. She also recorded three more blocks, giving her 96 for the season. She is just the fifth player in league history to finish with 90-plus.

Salaün led the Valkyries with 22 points.