Storm pull away late, avenge loss to Sun

Gabby Williams recorded 18 points, five assists and three steals to help the Seattle Storm notch a 79-65 victory over the visiting Connecticut Sun on Friday night.

Nneka Ogwumike added 16 points and five assists for Seattle, which finished strong while avenging Wednesday's 93-83 road loss to the Sun. Skylar Diggins had 14 points, five rebounds and five assists while Ezi Magbegor also had 14 points for the Storm (13-8), who shot 58.1 percent from the field in the second half.

Tina Charles had 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Sun (3-17), who lost for the 11th time in their past 12 games.

Saniya Rivers scored 12 points, Olivia Nelson-Ododa had 10 points and eight rebounds, and Leila Lacan added 10 points and seven boards off the bench for Connecticut.

The Storm used a 19-2 fourth-quarter run to seal the contest. Overall, Seattle connected on 45.3 percent of its shots, including 6 of 24 from 3-point range.

Connecticut shot 36.2 percent from the field and was 3 of 16 from behind the arc.

The Sun registered a victory over Seattle on Wednesday night in Uncasville when they outscored the Storm 27-9 in the fourth quarter to halt their franchise-worst, 10-game losing streak.

This time, Seattle was the fresher team down the stretch and outscored the Sun 24-13 in the final quarter.

The Storm scored seven straight points, taking a 67-62 led on Magbegor's layup with 4:54 to play. After Charles hit a jumper for the Sun, Erica Wheeler scored four straight points as Seattle rattled off 12 straight to make it 79-64, capping the surge on two free throws by Ogwumike with 56.8 seconds left.

Seattle scored the final six points of the third quarter to take a 55-52 lead into the final stanza.

In the fourth, Connecticut scored six straight points with Charles making the last two to give the Sun a 60-59 edge with 6:57 remaining.

Connecticut led for nearly the entire first half and entered the break with a 33-31 lead after Nelson-Ododa hit a jumper with 32.2 seconds remaining.

Charles had 10 points at the break for the Sun, while Diggins and Magbegor had eight apiece for Seattle.

The Sun scored 10 of the game's first 12 points and held their biggest lead at 14-4 after Lacan's layup with 3:19 left in the first quarter.

Seattle's lone lead of the first half came at 29-28 on Wheeler's basket with 1:57 to play.

--Field Level Media