That 12-2 Opening Run and Nobody in the Emerald City Was Ready For It

Ugh. Just UGH, Seattle. We came into Wednesday night at Climate Pledge Arena ready to cheer on our Storm, hoping to build on Sunday's win against these same Washington Mystics. Instead, we got punched in the mouth early and never really recovered, falling 78-64. It was a tough one to watch, especially after we just beat them!

Mystics Storm Out of the Gate, Never Look Back

The Mystics, who had dropped two straight and three of their last four, looked like a different team last night. And honestly, a big reason why was Michaela Onyenwere. She made her season debut after missing seven games due to left knee injury management, and man, she showed up! Onyenwere immediately hit two 3-pointers and dropped eight points during a brutal 12-2 opening run. That set the tone, folks. The Mystics never even trailed in this game. Shakira Austin was an absolute force, putting up 18 points, grabbing 13 rebounds, and dishing out five assists. Kiki Iriafen chipped in with 13 points and nine rebounds, and even Alicia Flórez Getino, on a developmental contract, made her WNBA debut and finished with nine points, five rebounds, three assists, and two steals in 23 minutes. We tried to battle back a bit when Lexie Brown hit a three with 7:48 left in the first half to cut the deficit to seven, but then we went cold as ice, not scoring again until Zia Cooke's driving layup with just over a minute left. Washington took a commanding 48-29 lead into halftime, and you could feel the air go out of the building.

Shooting Struggles Sink the Ship

Our Storm came out with some fire in the third, with Jade Melbourne making back-to-back layups to spark an 8-0 run right at the start, making it an 11-point game. For a second, you felt that hope, that maybe, just maybe, we could claw our way back. But then Sonia Citron dropped seven points in a 13-4 spurt that pushed their lead right back up to 20 with 4:03 left in the period. Jade Melbourne led the Storm with 15 points, and Mackenzie Holmes added eight points and pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds. Those are solid individual efforts, but we just couldn't get consistent offense going. We shot a dismal 35% from the field, hitting only 22 of 63 attempts. From beyond the arc? A brutal 5 of 23, or 22%. You can't win many games shooting like that, can you? And Dominique Malonga missed her fifth consecutive game, still in concussion protocol. We need her back out there, for sure.

The Storm now sit at 3-5. We've got to shake this one off fast. Next up, we head north of the border to visit Toronto on Saturday. Let's hope for a better offensive showing and get back to our winning ways. Go Storm!

This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.