GAME HIGHLIGHTS

• Sue Bird became the Seattle Storm’s all-time leading scorer at the 7:33 mark of the third quarter with a pull-up jumper to notch her 6,008^th-career point. She passed Lauren Jackson (6,007), who previously held the record, and now has 6,016 points for her career.
• With 5:19 left to play in the first quarter, Sue Bird buried her second three-pointer of the game and surpassed 6,000-career points, becoming the eighth player in WNBA history to accomplish the feat.
• With the win, the Storm improved to 15-5 on the season and has sole possession of first place in the WNBA standings.
• Seattle improved to 14-1 vs. Washington in the Emerald City, a hot streak dating back to 2006.

KEY STATS OF THE GAME

• Trailing 56-48 with 6:58 remaining in the third quarter, the Storm exploded for a 27-10 run to take a 75-66 lead into the fourth frame. Seattle shot 9-for-16 in the third quarter and scored 31 points in the stanza, tying a season-high for points in the third quarter (31 vs. LVA on 5/31; 31 at LAS on 6/7).
• Seattle outscored Washington from the charity stripe, 23-13.

STORM HIGHLIGHTS

• Breanna Stewart, the WNBA’s top scorer who came into the night averaging 22.0 PPG, scored a team-high 25 points, eclipsing the 20-plus point plateau for the 15th time in 2018.
• Breanna Stewart collected her third double-double of the season with 25 points and 10 boards.
• Sue Bird scored in double figures for the 10^th time this season, finishing with a season-high 21 on 6-for-9 shooting. Her previous high was 18 (at ATL on 7/6).
• Breanna Stewart has scored 25 or more points 10 times this season.
• Sue Bird connected on a season-high four three-pointers.
• Natasha Howard posted nine points and scored her 1,000^th-career point via a free throw with 2:49 left to play in the fourth quarter.
• In a season-high 17 minutes off the bench, Crystal Langhorne scored a season-high 12 points to go along with a season-best six rebounds. Seattle was +24 with Langhorne in the contest.
• Alysha Clark made a season-high three three-pointers and tied a career-high for three’s made en route to scoring 11 points.
• Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis came off the bench to score 10 points, her sixth game in double-figures this season.
• Seattle improved to 13-1 with the starting lineup of Sue Bird, Jewell Loyd, Breanna Stewart, Alysha Clark and Natasha Howard.
• Seattle improved to 2-4 when trailing at the half, while Washington fell to 9-1 when leading at the half.
• The Storm improved to 12-0 when leading after the first quarter and 13-1 when leading or tied after the third quarter.
• Seattle has now eclipsed its win total from last year. The Storm went 15-19 in 2017.
• The Storm’s 97 points equaled the most points scored against Washington this season (97 by LA on 6/15).
• Seattle, who leads the league in scoring (87.5 PPG), scored 90 or more points for the ninth time this season. The Storm improved to 8-1 in those games.
• The Storm is 8-0 when shooting 50 percent or higher.

MYSTICS HIGHLIGHTS

• Ariel Atkins scored 17 points, all of which came in the first half. She shot 5-for-10 from the field and made four three-pointers.
• Elena Delle Donne scored in double figures for the 13^th time this season, recording a game-high 29 points to go along with seven rebounds.
• Kristi Toliver posted 18 points and made four three-pointers.
• LaToya Sanders and Natasha Cloud scored 10 points apiece.
• Washington connected on 14 three’s tonight, just missing its season-high of 15 (vs. MIN on 5/27).
• The Mystics outscored the Storm in the second (22-19) and fourth quarters (25-22).
• All five starters scored in double figures for the Mystics.

MYSTICS HEAD COACH MIKE THIBAULT 

(On the game) “In the third quarter, they got away. They played great in the third quarter and we didn’t. We got in foul trouble in the third quarter and they got to the line. We made some mental mistakes … some might have been (fatigue) or whatever. (Seattle) is playing really well offensively. They know each other and know how to play. Sue (Bird) is as smart a point guard as there’s ever been and she made us pay every time we made a mistake. Credit to them. We have to go home and get rested because we have a big week ahead of us.”

(On taking any positives from splitting their two-game road trip) “Yeah, once you get the first one you get greedy and want the second one. We gave ourselves a chance at the start. We had a good start and when you play a back-to-back, you always wonder how you’re going to start, but the third quarter was like an avalanche for about four or five minutes.”
(On Sue Bird’s career) “I’m tired of seeing her. (Laughs) I love her to death and loved coaching her with the (USA) National Team. She’s just as smart as there’s ever been. She made an unsung play, but it was key down the stretch. We had cut (their lead) back to five or six points and she looked somebody off and found (Natasha) Howard cutting down the lane. That just added to their momentum. She makes plays like that all the time. She’s so aggressive. This is the most aggressive I think I’ve seen her in a few years offensively looking for her shot and it’s made them better because of it.”

MYSTICS FORWARD ELENA DELLE DONNE

(On the game) “I felt like we played a solid three quarters then fell apart a little bit in the fourth. They’re such a good team with so many good scorers and they run beautiful offense so they just keep you in movement. The second you make a mistake they make you pay for it so it’s something for us to learn. I feel like we have a lot of similar personnel, but we didn’t make them pay like they made us pay.”

(On what the difference was in the third quarter) “First of all, they have a great crowd behind them so the second you let the momentum swing like that and you let the crowd get involved, it’s very tough to come back from it. Like I said, they have beautiful offense and the second you make one mistake in their movement, they make you pay.”

(On taking any consolation in winning one of two on this road trip) “We played two really good teams. Unfortunately we wanted to come away with two wins, but the most important thing is being able to learn from this. We need to go back and figure out what they did so well and why we weren’t able to overcome their offense.”

(On Sue Bird’s career) “She’s a monster. It’s crazy. She just keeps getting better and better like fine wine. Sue’s not only great on the court, but her leadership and her IQ is something you don’t see very often. She just makes everybody else so much smarter and has everybody playing at such a high level.”

STORM COACH DAN HUGHES

(On the game overall) “Just a really good basketball game and a great atmosphere. I thought the Storm fans created an atmosphere that mimics the types of games that we want to play well in. Washington played well, and I thought we had to deal with the back and forth struggle which you have with good teams going against each other. I thought we did a really good job in the third quarter — I thought that was the separation in this game. [Breanna] Stewart was Stewart and Sue [Bird] was really just excellent and running the team but also creating opportunities to finish plays as well as set people up coming out of it. To me, the bench kind of helped us get some separation. The players I played off the bench and especially [Crystal] Langhorne and Kaleena [Mosqueda-Lewis] just were effective in giving us scoring during those periods and then Jordin Canada, in Sue Bird-like fashion, had four assists and no turnovers. I look at the positive numbers and see we got really good play out of the bench so it was a good team win in that regard against a team that is playing very well and in a great atmosphere that our team really appreciated with Storm fans coming out on this beautiful Sunday to come indoors.”

(On importance of rebounding, especially with Courtney Paris on the bench) “It was a situation where our normal rotation got a little out of it but it was very important from the standpoint that’s how we become when we are best. Our ability to play out of our defense — and against good teams you’re not going to turn them over on regularity, you’re going to rebound. I thought that was huge because what you see then is us playing in that phase of the game more. We have been efficient all year but the issue has been how many chances do we get and we recognized that early with the team — and the more chances we get, the better this Storm basketball team will be.”

STORM GUARD SUE BIRD

(On Crystal Langhorne’s play) “Her coming off of the bench was huge, we have been talking about how when Lang [Crystal Langhorne] goes in there as a sub a lot of the time you can take teams by surprise. She has obviously proven herself as a starter in this league, so when she comes in she really makes a difference. She is getting over being injured, because when you come back, you do not just have to get over the physical injury, it’s about getting reacclimated to being on the team. About remembering where you fit in, where your shots are coming, it about getting your comfort level back. Tonight, we finally saw her take a step in the right direction.”

(On breaking the franchise point record) “In some ways its obviously nice, for me personally I think that a lot of these lists that I am climbing, it speaks more to my longevity as a player. I’ve been able to be consistent and stay on top of my game, year in and year out more than anything, especially with something like points because it took me a long time to get on some of these lists. I am definitely not a better scorer than Lauren [Jackson] was. It’s fitting that Stewie (Breanna Stewart) is sitting up here, because assuming that everything keeps going the it’s going, she will probably be breaking that record.”

(On how the team has developed over the season) “We have gotten comfortable, teams who know who they are and what they want are the ones who play well. So, the difference between early on, even though we played well early on, and now we have gotten better and better.”

STORM FORWARD BREANNA STEWART

(On the third quarter) “Honestly, I think that we started slow in the third quarter, they made a few shots and we made a little bit of a run on us, and then we flipped the switch and turned things on, the ball stated going into the basket, we were finding the open people and allowing them to make shots.”

(On the amount of games in a short period) “I think that the way that the season has gone we have been able to prepare ourselves, we have been playing every other day, this is not the first time doing it. Coming back from Atlanta, the fiveand-a-half-hour flight and then turn around and play today is a lot. Then Tuesday’s game is at noon, we just have to be ready. We need that win especially on our home court.”

(On how the team has developed over the season) “I think that we have just continued to gain chemistry. We have gotten into the swing of things as the season has gone on. We are playing with people with didn’t have last year, adding Tash (Natasha Howard), Courtney [Paris], and Jordin [Canada] and having them apart of the team. They have found their roles and we are doing what we need to do.”