Even without three of the greatest players in WNBA history, the Seattle Storm and Minnesota Lynx each opened the season on a positive note.

These clubs will look to build on those quality showings Wednesday night when they meet in Minneapolis.

With reigning MVP Breanna Stewart (Achilles) out for the season and league legend Sue Bird (knee) sidelined indefinitely, the Storm rallied from 11 down in the first half to open defense of their WNBA title with an impressive 77-68 win over Phoenix on Saturday. Natasha Howard had 21 points with 16 rebounds while Jewell Loyd added 17 and Bird’s replacement Jordin Canada scored half of her 16 in the final quarter.

Seattle outscored the Diana Taurasi-less Mercury 40-25 over the middle two quarters then held off a fourth-quarter charge from the visitors.

“Don’t doubt us. Just don’t doubt us,” said Howard, who averaged career highs of 13.2 points and 6.4 rebounds in 2018. “Even though we’re down two players with injury, don’t doubt us. Anything can happen this season.”

The Storm will take that “us against the world” mantra with them to Minnesota, where they begin a string of three consecutive road games over a four-day span.

With superstar Maya Moore taking the 2019 season off to focus on family and her ministry work, Minnesota also was not given much preseason love from prognosticators of the league. However, that did not stop the four-time WNBA champs from rolling to an 89-71 home victory over the Chicago Sky on Saturday night.

Napheesa Collier scored 27 points in her WNBA debut and Sylvia Fowles added 16 with 10 boards as the Lynx shot 44.1 percent, held a 46-29 advantage on the glass and attempted more than twice as many free throws (32 to 15) than a Sky team that continues to struggle guarding the basketball.

However, the story was and is Collier, the sixth overall pick in last month’s draft, who enjoyed a banner senior season at Connecticut in 2018-19. Collier’s scoring night was second only for a WNBA debut to Candace Parker’s 34-point effort with Los Angeles in 2008.

“It feels amazing,” Collier, who also had six rebounds and three blocks, told the WNBA’s official website. “It’s awesome. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

Seattle has won three of the last four meetings between these two perennial WNBA powers. That included the most recent at Minnesota, 81-72 on Aug 12, as Howard scored 21 points. Fowles led the Lynx with 28 and 13 rebounds in that contest.