GAME HIGHLIGHTS

• Sue Bird reached two significant milestones in tonight’s contest. She played in her 480th career game to move to No. 4 all-time in games played in the WNBA, passing former Storm teammate Swin Cash. Bird also nabbed a steal with 15.7 seconds left in the second quarter, putting her at 620 for her career to move into sole possession of No. 7 all-time, passing DeLisha Milton Jones.
• For the 17th time in her career and second game in a row, Jewell Loyd scored 25+ points, finishing with a game-high 29 points on 8-for-21 shooting, including a perfect 9-for-9 from the free throw line.
• Seattle won its first overtime game since June 22, 2014, when the Storm defeated Washington at home, 89-86.
• Jewell Loyd and Breanna Stewart combined for 57 of Seattle’s 95 points.

KEY STATS OF THE GAME

• The Storm scored 24 points off 18 Sky turnovers compared to Chicago’s five points off eight Storm turnovers.
• In the fourth quarter and overtime, Seattle forced nine turnovers and committed zero of their own.

STORM HIGHLIGHTS

• Jewell Loyd scored in double figures for the third straight game and hit the 29-point mark for the second contest in a row, registering a game-high 29 points to go along with eight rebounds.
• Breanna Stewart logged a season-high 28 points to go along with six boards. She also tied a career high with 41 minutes played.
• Sue Bird played in her 480th-career game, moving to No. 4 all-time on the WNBA’s lost for career games. She passed former Storm teammate Swin Cash, who saw action in 479 career games.
• Natasha Howard shot 8-for-12 to finish with 16 points and 10 rebounds, her first double-double in a Storm uniform and first since May 16, 2014, when she played for the Indiana Fever. Her 10 rebounds were one off her career high of 11.
• Natasha Howard came away with four blocks, all of which came in the fourth quarter and overtime. She had the overtime-sending block with 4.9 seconds remaining in regulation.
• The WNBA’s all-time assists leader, Sue Bird dished out nine dimes, her most since Sept. 13, 2017, when she had 13 at Washington.
• Jordin Canada came off the bench to record 10 points, her first career game in double-figures.
• The Storm forced four shot-clock violations in tonight’s win. Seattle’s record for shot-clock violations forced in a game is five vs. San Antonio on Aug. 23, 2011. The last time the Storm forced four was May 26, 2016, vs. Washington.
• First-year head coach Dan Hughes earned his first career regular season win at KeyArena.
• Seattle closed the first half with a 10-5 run, seven of which points came from Jewell Loyd, to make it a three-point (44-41) contest going into halftime.
• Seattle trailed 80-66 with 5:59 left to play and then outscored Chicago 29-11 the rest of the way. Thirteen of those 29 points came from Breanna Stewart, seven of which came in overtime.
• The Storm improved to 16-11 all-time vs. Chicago, including 9-5 at KeyArena.

SKY HIGHLIGHTS

• Allie Quigley posted a season-high 23 points on 8-for-12 shooting. In Chicago’s last two games at KeyArena, she has averaged 24 points per game(scored 25 last season on July 17, 2017).
• Jamierra Faulkner dished out a season-high nine assists to go along with 14 points.
• Kahleah Copper scored a season-high 12 points on 5-for-11 shooting.
• Rookie Diamond DeShields scored a season-high 19 points on 7-for-13 shooting to go along with six rebounds.
• The Sky shot 7-for-15 in the first quarter and closed the frame with an 11-4 run to go up 17-14.
• Kent, Wash., native Courtney Vandersloot did not play tonight due to commitments overseas.
• Chicago’s bench outscored Seattle, 36-17.
• The Sky came away with a season-high 14 steals.

SKY HEAD COACH AMBER STOCKS

(On the game) “We did a good job on offense and scored the ball well. It was tough that we couldn’t get key defensive rebounds down the stretch as well as giving up too many free-throw opportunities for Seattle.”

(On what the difference was in the fourth quarter and overtime) “Jewell Loyd and Breanna Stewart had big games. While our guard play was very solid across the board with all of our perimeter players, it was just a handful to contain the pins and flares for Stewart and Loyd.”

(On if inexperience was a factor) “Experience always helps … when you have the veteran players. Across the board, as a whole, we have more youth on our squad, but we have some smart basketball players. Our leaders are poised and mature and they have a lot of wisdom under their belts.”

(On Allie Quigley not playing in overtime) “That was unfortunate. Literally an unfortunate hit – a literal hit that she took that kept her out. Pun intended. It doesn’t look good (groin injury).”

(On her assessment of the team so far) “Overall we’re doing some things well offensively. We’ve had one game where we struggled to score, but other than that one game, we’ve been pretty fluid offensively. We can really improve our force inside around the rim.”

SKY GUARD ALLIE QUIGLEY

(On the game) “We played good in spurts, but obviously in the fourth quarter we struggled taking care of the ball. I think that we let their pressure get to us and didn’t stay poised in that moment.”

(On if experience played a part down the stretch) “Maybe it could, but at the same time it just felt like we rushed and played on our heels when they attacked us.”

(On how she’s doing physically) “I don’t know. I’m going to see the doctor. Something doesn’t feel good. When Jewell (Loyd) took the last shot (in regulation) she kneed me somewhere. I tried (to play in overtime), but just couldn’t lift my leg up like I wanted to.”

(On the state of the team four games into the season) “There are a lot of positives to take and move forward with. We’re just trying to take the good things and keep on capitalizing on those. We know where we’re struggling and are trying to minimize those. If we can do that, I think we’re going to have a really good year.

STORM HEAD COACH DAN HUGHES

(Overall thoughts on the game) “For us it was an inconsistent performance. I mean we had some good moments, we had some moments we really struggled with. You have got to be really proud of the team that would never doubt that they could finish the game. It’s a great lesson. I thought, especially in the fourth quarter down the stretch and into the overtime, our defensive activity went to another level. We had had a hard time stopping them and our playmakers made plays for us. Our time and score execution was, and about had to be, perfect to give us a chance coming out of it. It’s a priceless win for a team to know that they’re not out of games even when things are tough.”

(On defensive adjustments) “We went to a small lineup with Stewie and Natasha inside. Our activity level got so much better. Our pick up full court – we just seemed to jump in to that kind of thing. I don’t know if there was anything magical. I think it was our team understanding that we had to play out of our defense because when we played out of our defense in the other quarters we were pretty good. We didn’t get a lot of stops for a while. And then I thought the execution offensively was really precise down the stretch. We got the ball to the right people and we played through them. Their activity level when we went full court just shot up through the roof.”

(On Jewell Loyd’s three point shot and the crowd): “That was good execution on their part. Stewie’s pass was amazing and that’s a big time finish for Jewell. They both mentioned it and I’m going to mention it too. It thought the crowd was phenomenal. As we gained momentum, they just seemed to ratchet up with us. I’ve been on the other side a few times – it’s kind of nice to be on this side.”

(On reasons for the ups and downs throughout the game): “These guys have been here, but a lot of what we’re doing and the priorities we’re doing – it’s a new culture. I’d love it to be smooth but a lot of times understanding how to defend when our offense isn’t coming. Those things just don’t happen overnight. They kind of come through constant awareness. We’re a little bit in that phase. What’s been nice is that I think you start to see glimpses of the things that matter to us. When we put them together our thinking is that we can be special and that we can deal with – because we didn’t shoot the ball great tonight. We’re going to shoot the ball a lot better than tonight but it’s kind of nice for me to go home and realize we won a game that we just didn’t make every shot that we should’ve – that our offense wasn’t at that high of a level. We had to fight through it. Those are sometimes grown into a culture that we learn to win games in different ways.”

STORM GUARD JEWELL LOYD 

(On the got her going offensively) “My teammates, they ran some very good stuff for me. I was just feeding off the crowd and its energy and I was making sure I got my feet set and just knock down shots.”

(On her last three-point shots feeling different) “Not really, Stewie made a great pass and I just don’t want to let me teammates down so I was really focused on that, to make that shot. I just really wanted to make sure I was sound and I didn’t fade on that shot, and just catching the ball and having that balance.”

STORM FORWARD BREANNA STEWART 

(On the comeback) “I think you’ve seen enough of our games last year, unfortunately we’ve been in those situations, fortunately we know how to come back from them. To what Dan said, it was an up and down game, I don’t think at one point we had everything completely going our way, even at the end, but the fact that we fought through it and continued to play through it and made plays down the stretch to get to overtime and from there we knew those five minutes were ours, especially with the crowd and into the game they were.”