Game of the week
In a game that saw the Seattle Storm and Dallas Wings battle it out until the end, two players went to war.
The Wings’ Arike Ogunbowale dropped 41 points while the Storm’s Jewell Loyd scored 39 of her own, in what turned out to be a historic shootout between two of the league’s elite scorers.
Both Ogunbowale and Loyd hit seven 3s each to set their new respective career-highs. They also became the first players ever in WNBA history to score at least 39 points in the same game.
Left it all out on the floor 🙌@Arike_O went off for a career-high 41 PTS in a matchup against the Storm and shot an impressive 54.2% from the field and knocked down 7 triples #MoreThanGame pic.twitter.com/SSz922vHXQ
— WNBA (@WNBA) June 17, 2023
In the end though, it was Loyd and the Storm that came out with the win versus the Wings, 109-103. The win improved their win-loss record to 3-7, still catching up to the Wings’ 5-6 record.
Loyd is leading the league in points with 25 per game, but she’ll need more help from her teammates to convert her many, many buckets into at least a couple of wins.
Team in the spotlight
The Atlanta Dream is hanging around in the middle of the Eastern Conference, but may be on their way up.
The Dream are on a three-game winning streak, and are just coming off a huge win over a strong Connecticut Sun. Atlanta’s Cheyenne Parker shocked Connecticut with a clutch shot to force overtime, where Allisha Gray continued her unstoppable run.
Allisha Gray couldn't be stopped 🙌@Graytness_15 had a double-double, scoring a career-high 27 PTS, 10 REB to help the @AtlantaDream pick up the dub in an OT thriller vs the Sun#MoreThanGame pic.twitter.com/leciNDEvcP
— WNBA (@WNBA) June 16, 2023
Gray scored a career-high 27 points and added 10 rebounds in the OT win. The victory ended the Sun’s seven-game winning streak against the Dream. In this dreamy run by Atlanta, Gray has been averaging close to 23 points per game on 59 percent shooting and six rebounds. Watch out for Atlanta.
Big-time ballers
How do you stop the Las Vegas Aces’ Big Three? In a dominant 31-point win versus the Minnesota Lynx, Jackie Young, Kelsey Plum, and Chelsea Gray all balled out to combine for 62 points.
The @LVAces put on a clinic as their winning streak continues. The trio of Gray, Plum, and Young balled out 💯@JackieYoung3 ? 24 PTS, 4 REB, 2 AST @kelseyplum10 ? 21 PTS, 72.7 FG%, 4 REB, 3 AST@cgray209? 17 PTS, 2 REB, 5 AST#MoreThanGame pic.twitter.com/WXpoddWfGd
— WNBA (@WNBA) June 19, 2023
Young, Plum, and Gray scored 24, 21, and 17, respectively. The result was another W for the Aces, improving their record to 10-1.
Watch out for…
Breanna Stewart.
With the New York Liberty off to a good start to the season, winning seven of their first 10 games, Stewart is off on a quest to be great.
In her first 10 games of the young season, Stewart already has 200 points, 100 rebounds, and 40 assists, the first to ever do so in league history. Looks like Stewie is on a mission this year.
