GAME HIGHLIGHTS

• Breanna Stewart scored a season-high 35 points on 12-for-22 shooting to go along with 10 rebounds
for her fifth double-double of the season, giving her 26 for her career to tie Sue Bird for second alltime
in franchise history. Lauren Jackson holds the all-time record with 76 career double-doubles.
• After leading by just two (46-44) at halftime, Seattle opened the third stanza with a 10-0 run in the
opening four minutes, forcing the Wings to miss their first six shots of the quarter en route to going up
56-44. The Storm then found itself facing a 77-76 deficit with 2:21 left to play in the fourth before a
Breanna Stewart jumper on the next possession sparked a 15-7 run to close the game for Seattle.
• Storm veteran Sue Bird played in her 497th-career game tonight, passing Tina Thompson to second
all-time in the WNBA for career games played. She needs to play in three more games to pass
DeLisha Milton-Jones (499) and break the league’s all-time record.
• With her 68th assist of the season, Jordin Canada passed Jewell Loyd (2015) for the third-most assists in
a single season for a Storm rookie. Sue Bird (191 in 2002) ranks first, while Breanna Stewart sits second
(114 in 2016).
• Seattle remained the only team in the WNBA this season that has not lost back-to-back games,
improving to 6-0 in games following a loss.
• With one of the top two records in the WNBA standings, Seattle Storm head coach Dan Hughes has
clinched a head-coaching role for Verizon WNBA All-Star 2018. This will be his second time serving as
head coach in a WNBA All-Star game. He was the coach for the West in 2009 and led the team to a
130-118 win over Lin Dunn and the Eastern Conference All-Star team.

KEY STATS OF THE GAME

• The Storm pulled down a season-high 17 offensive rebounds, translating into a 15-5 edge in secondchance
points.
• Seattle outscored Dallas in points off turnovers, 21-10.
• Tonight’s contest consisted of 20 lead changes, with 13 in the first quarter alone.

STORM HIGHLIGHTS

• Breanna Stewart, the WNBA’s top scorer who came into the night averaging 22.0 PPG, eclipsed the
20-point mark for the 16th time this season and 25-point mark for the 11th time in 2018, recording 35
points on 12-for-22 shooting.
• With 35 points, Breanna Stewart was three shy of tying her career-high of 38 (vs. ATL, 6/28/16). This
marked her sixth 30-plus point game of her career.
• Natasha Howard scored nine first-quarter points on 4-for-4 shooting in the first quarter alone en route
to finishing with 17 points to go along with five rebounds.
• Jewell Loyd pulled down eight rebounds tonight, tying a season-high, which she has now achieved
four times this season. She also scored 13 points and had six assists.
• Rookie guard Jordin Canada played 19 minutes and scored eight points to go along with four
rebounds off the bench. She has scored eight or more points nine times in 2018.
• With a critical three-pointer that put Seattle up 84-79 with 1:04 left to play, Sue Bird tied Becky
Hammon for third all-time in WNBA history for three-pointers made with 829.
• Seattle improved to 14-2 with the starting lineup of Sue Bird, Jewell Loyd, Breanna Stewart, Alysha
Clark and Natasha Howard.
• Seattle improved to 2-5 when shooting 45 percent or less for the game.

POSTGAME NOTES

• The Storm led at the break, 46-44, thanks to a 21-13 edge on the glass and double-figure scoring from
Breanna Stewart and Natasha Howard, who tallied 14 and 11, respectively.
• Dallas is the only team Seattle will face four times in the regular season.
• Seattle collected its second-straight sellout of the 2018 season, packing in 9,686 fans at KeyArena.
WINGS HIGHLIGHTS
• Skylar Diggins-Smith led the Wings with 21 points, which marked her 16th double-figure game and
11th 20-plus point game of the season.
• Kayla Thornton scored her ninth double-figure game of the season, recording a new season-high
with 18 points. She shot 77 percent from the field, going 7-for-9.
• Liz Cambage scored her 21st double-figure game and 10th 20-plus point game of the season with 23
points.
• Azurá Stevens recorded a new career-high with nine total rebounds. The nine total rebounds she
grabbed led the team for the night. It is the first time this season that she has led the team in that
category. She also led the Wings reserves ending the night with six points.
• With the loss Wings are now 12-9 for the season and 5-6 on the road and remain in fourth place in the
WNBA standings.
• Against Western Conference opponents, the Wings are 6-8 overall and 2-5 on the road.
• Before tonight’s loss, the Wings had won five-straight games, which ranked as the longest streak for
the franchise since moving the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
• The Wings largest lead of the night was four points.
• With tonight’s 37 total boards, the Wings have now grabbed 30-plus total rebounds 20 times in 2018.
• The Wings outscored the Storm inside the paint, 44-36.
• On the fast break, the Wings outscored the Storm, 20-3.

STORM HEAD COACH DAN HUGHES

(On the game overall)
“Just a really good WNBA game. Dallas is playing extremely well, you had runs both ways. What kind
of stood out to me was our ability to rebound throughout the game. 17 offensive rebounds really was
a powerful stat. The other thing was we did a great job of getting ourselves to the foul line and
playing more aggressive in the second half. We had only shot like three free throws in the first half
and we did that. [Breanna] Stewart was just – I’m searching for the right words – ready for that
moment and realized it very well. I thought our team did a lot of things. Alysha [Clark] was very good
defensively. Natasha [Howard] really, really did a good job of creating play within the interior of what
they were doing. Jewell [Loyd] had six assists and no turnovers coming out of it and the shot that Sue
[Bird] hit was probably the one that turned us into a lead that we were going to finish with at that
point. [Crystal] Langhorne really gave us good minutes, as did [Jordin] Canada, off the bench. Just a
really solid team performance against a good team that’s as hot or maybe hotter than anybody in
the league.”

(On Natasha Howard’s play, especially defending Liz Cambage)
“One of the key phrases we use defensively is early work and she did a lot of early work. The work you
do with [Liz] Cambage if she catches it in the right geographic region, it isn’t going to matter. She did
a lot of that, but the hidden part was that Liz [Cambage] had to guard us. When we really ran the
floor, we really were active, we screened a lot, we did a lot of things so you can play your hearts out
but you’re not going to stop her completely offensively. When she has to guard someone as active
as [Natasha] Howard then you’re going to have an impact on the amount of energy she’s having to
expend and I thought that was key because with her and [Skylar] Diggins-Smith, they have a 1-2
punch that’s really strong.”

STORM FORWARD BREANNA STEWART

(On the game overall)
“We knew going in that this is our last home game for a while and we knew that we would have a
big crowd. So, we took the energy from them and made sure to battle the entire game. This is our
third time playing Dallas and so we were pretty familiar playing them, which made it an important
game, having two wins over them means a lot. Tonight, we were really aggressive, and we had to
make the most of it, we were down a few players, so we had to play smart.”

(On coming back from a loss)
“We have to focus in a lot, we saw a lot of back to back losses last year and we took than and
learned from it. This season is so short that everything is a quick turnaround. We are taking things one
game at time.”

DALLAS WINGS HEAD COACH FRED WILLIAMS

(On the game)
“I thought it was a well-played, energized game from both teams. It came down to about the last
minute and a half for it going either way. For us, we just can’t give up 17 offensive boards. I thought
we didn’t box out and Seattle just got a lot of those second and third effort shots.”

(On the playoff-like atmosphere)
“It was a playoff game. With the sellout … it’s a good atmosphere for us. We’re still trying to bump up
the ladder there in the standings. Each and every night teams knock each other out, but we’re there
in the mix. We have a three-game home stand coming up so we look forward to those games. We
just got battle tested tonight and we didn’t take care of the rebounding.”

WINGS GUARD SKYLAR DIGGINS-SMITH

(On the game)
“They’re good. Their record is what is for a reason. You have to give them credit – they were more
hungry on the boards and we didn’t rebound well. They got 17 (offensive) boards and 104
possessions and I think that was the difference in the game.”

(On what the difference was down the stretch)
“Seventeen (offensive) boards and 104 possessions to our 96. That was the difference in the game –
(offensive) boards.”

(On going forward)
“Every team in the league is tough so we just have to bounce back. We don’t really have much time
to think about it. That’s the good thing about it – you have to have a short-term memory in this
league because the season is so fast. We have four games in six days so we have to try and start
another (winning) streak.”