SEATTLE \u2013 There\u2019s another game to come for the Seattle Storm.<\/p>\n
Rallying from nine points down with less than five minutes left inside Climate Pledge Arena,\u00a0the Storm finished on a 16-4 run to beat the Las Vegas Aces in Game 2 of\u00a0the Round One series on Tuesday night, 86-83.\u00a0The deciding game will be played on Thursday in Las Vegas, tipping off at 6:30 p.m. It will be televised on ESPN2. <\/p>\n
Skylar Diggins finished with a playoff career high 26 points, getting 15 of those during the second quarter to go along with two steals, a block and a team high seven assists. Nneka Ogwumike had a double-double of 24 points and 10 rebounds. Rookie center Dominique Malonga posted her second straight playoff double-double, this one with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Erica Wheeler tallied all 11 of her points during the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
The Storm was down by double digits early in the fourth, trailing 75-63 with 7:06 to go. But they allowed Las Vegas just eight points the rest of the way and kept Wilson completely off the board during that time span.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of that was Dom being in (Wilson\u2019s) space and utilizing her length,\u201d Head Coach Noelle Quinn said. \u201cThose possessions, it\u2019s Ezi (Magbegor) and Nneka and Dom going one on one, utilizing their length and physicality. A player as great as A\u2019ja, you try to make it as difficult as possible, and I thought that group did that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Down 83-79 as the clock ticked inside the final minute, Diggins nailed a 19-footer\u00a0to make it 83-81. The Storm\u2019s defense forced A\u2019ja Wilson to miss a mid-range jumper, and Ogwumike pulled down the rebound. <\/p>\n
Malonga went for the lay-in, to make it\u00a0an 83-83 tie and a foul was called on Chelsea Gray. Malonga hit the ensuing free throw to put the Storm up 84-83 with 31 seconds to go.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw Dom streaking and just threw it up to the basket,\u201d said Diggins, who had seven assists. \u201cIt was a nice catch and a tough finish by her. And I\u2019m really impressed by (her making) the free throw. That\u2019s a big moment by a 19-year-old. We\u2019ve been asking a lot from her all year.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Coming out of a timeout, the Aces immediately turned the ball over.<\/p>\n
The Storm called their final timeout and advanced the ball. Ogwumike then held it to let time run off the clock. She handed it to Diggins, who took it across the top of the key and hit a jumper for an 86-83 lead.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not the first time I\u2019ve been in that moment \u2013 I\u2019ve been in the playoffs a few years in my career and been to the Finals before,\u201d Diggins said. \u201cI know this team has a level of trust in me and that gives me an air of confidence in myself in how I prepare for these moments.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the playoffs and you can\u2019t be afraid to take the shot,\u201d she added. \u201cI know the ball is in my hands for a reason \u2013 to make a play \u2013 and I just took my opportunity. Not being afraid of the moment, taking the big shot \u2013 and obviously, Nneka set a good screen trying to get me through.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Aces had one more chance to tie it, but Loyd\u2019s 3-pointer bounced off the rim.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think a lot of times, you go through moments and don\u2019t realize what they\u2019re for,\u201d Ogwumike said. \u201cI think a lot of August (when the Storm battled through numerous close games) was for today. We\u2019re not unfamiliar with tight games, we\u2019re not unfamiliar with playing from behind, especially in the second half. I think today was one of our best showings of composure \u2013 not too high, not too low.\u201d<\/p>\n
Young finished with 25 points and Wilson had 21 plus 13 rebounds for Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
UP NEXT: The Storm are headed back to Las Vegas for Game 3 of Round One on Thursday, September 18. Tipoff will be at 6:30 pm PT. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEATTLE \u2013 There\u2019s another game to come for the Seattle Storm. Rallying from nine points down with less…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151047,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":{"0":"post-151046","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}