At the end of a nine-game stretch, which included seven on the road, the Storm played like a team anxious to return home.
They began this stretch with four straight wins, but perhaps fatigue finally caught up with Seattle, which is 2-3 in the last five games following a 94-83 defeat Wednesday night against the Las Vegas.
Maybe their minds were on an upcoming nine-game homestand — the longest in WNBA history — because the Storm seemed as if they wanted to be anywhere besides Michelob ULTRA Arena.
Following a 78-65 road win against Las Vegas two weeks ago, Seattle entered its rematch concerned about Chelsea Gray, who made her long-awaited season debut after missing 12 games due to a foot injury.
Turns out, the Storm should have been worried about Jackie Young.
In their first meeting on June 7, the sixth-year Aces guard scored a season-low three points, due in part to an illness and a stingy Storm defense that held Las Vegas to its fewest points of the season and a season-low 31.3% shooting from the field.
However, the Storm’s defense has been ineffective recently, and Young took advantage while scoring 32 points — two shy of her career-high — on 11-for-19 shooting. She also had four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Young got going early and sank a couple of dribble-drive baskets to cap a 9-2 run that gave the Aces a 21-11 lead with 3:08 left in the first quarter, which prompted a Storm timeout.
After a Seattle basket, Young knifed through the defense again for layup, and the Storm never got closer than nine points the rest of the way.
Early in the second quarter, former Washington Huskies standout Kelsey Plum skipped along the baseline and found center Kiah Stokes along the sideline; Stokes buried a corner three-pointer that put the Aces up 34-16.
Las Vegas led 47-32 at halftime, which is tied for the most points the Storm have allowed in a half this season.
Seattle had a few nice moments in the second half, particularly Nneka Ogwumike who finished with 21 points, while Ezi Magbegor added 19 points and 13 rebounds.
Skylar Diggins-Smith had 10 points and six rebounds. Jordan Horston had 14 points off the bench.
However, the Storm (9-6) couldn’t overcome a horrific shooting display from Jewell Loyd, who shot 0 for 9 from field and finished with one point, which snapped her streak of 56 games with double-digit scoring outings.
It was also her fewest points since Aug. 7, 2022.
Las Vegas, which lost four of its previous five games and improved to 7-6, received 27 points, nine rebounds and four steals from A’ja Wilson, an early MVP favorite.
Plum had 11 points and eight assists while Tiffany Hayes and former Storm player Alysha Clark each had 10.
