Seattle Storm Wins WNBA Championship

A four-time NCAA women’s basketball champion, a four-time NCAA Most Valuable Player, a gold medal winner with the 2016 United States Olympic Team, the 2016 WNBA Rookie of the Year, the 2018 WNBA Player of the Year, and now add a third WNBA championship.

And despite a torn Achilles that sidelined her all of last season, this 26-year-old blossomed again by leading the Seattle Storm to another league title via a three-game sweep over the Los Vegas Aces that concluded with Tuesday night‘s 92-59 rout at the IMG Center in Bradenton, Fla.

That’s Breanna Stewart, the 6-foot-4 guard/forward who grew up in upstate New York in the suburbs of Syracuse, in her teen years often took the short drive to the Orange campus to settle in and practice in one of its gymnasium, but it was a big disappointment when accepted a free ride to the University of Connecticut to play for legendary head coach Geno Auriemma.

That’s history, as was the one national championship finals in 2015 when Syracuse met up with UConn and it resulted in a romp as Stewart turned in 28 points, pulled down 14 rebounds, and handed out seven assists before checking out with 4:30 to play. As of now, she’s arguably recognized as the all-time best WNBA player.

For Seattle, which also has veteran Sue Bird, now nearing 40 and probably the number one all-time point guard  who missed last season with a knee injury and to bring the Storm a fourth championship by depositing an average of 11 assists in the sweep over a Las Vegas team that had the league’s top overall record. The roster also lists former Huskies’ All-Star forward Morgan Tuck as its leader off the bench.

“Playing alongside former UConn players is always great,” Bird said, “and I’m happy to recover and watch players like Breanna just continue to add to their resume. She’s my buddy and just a wonderful player who never slows down.”

Scoring 84 points in the finals for a 28.4 average, Stewart also scrubbed the boards for four rebounds in 25 minutes on the court, and was the unanimous choice for MVP once again. She also set a WNBA record by scoring more than 20 points for the sixth straight finals game. She became the fifth player to win multiple finals awards. Her play all year showed she fully recovered from a torn Achilles that made for a miserable time away from the court.

With Bird cheering from the sidelines, she had sat the bench for most of the fourth quarter with the game well in hand, with the 33-point margin of victory the biggest in WNBA finals history. Stewart joined her with three minutes left, and the team shared hugs at center court after the final buzzer as yellow and green confetti streamed down on them.

A’ja Wilson, the league’s regular-season MVP, tried to keep the Aces alive. She had 14 of her team-high 18 points in the first quarter, hitting on five of her nine shots. She also converted four of her team’s free throws in the quarter. But Las Vegas, which averaged more than 23 charity tosses during the campaign, only had five total in game two and head coach Bill Laimbeer wasn’t happy about it.

But in game three, despite the Aces trailing only 23-21 after one quarter, the soaring Storm closed out the quarter on an 11-2 run, and then scored the initial six points of the second. Stewart did pick up her third personal foul in the quarter and had to sit out the final 7-plus minutes. But it didn’t matter as her team extended its 2-point lead by upping it to 43-34 at the intermission.

Then Seattle put the game away in the third quarter, scoring 12 of the first 14 points. The Storm run should continue, but Las Vegas’ future is bright. It was missing Liz Cambage and Kelsey Plum, starters from last year. Cambage was granted a medical exemption to skip playing in the “bubble”, and Plum tore her Achilles tendon.

Jewell Loyd also sparkled for the Storm with 19 points, nine boards and four assists. Bird added five points and seven assists, Jordin Canada tallied 15 to go with five rebounds and three assists, and Alysia Clark scored 10, took down seven boards and handed out five assists in the usual Seattle team effort led by the one-two punch of Stewart and Bird. For the Aces, Carolyn Sword came down with 10 rebounds and Jackie Young added 11 points.

The WNBA season had been scheduled to tip-off May 15th, but the coronavirus pandemic had it started on July 25 with the site at IMG in the Sunshine State turned into the “bubble.” And in the 21st year of the league, it belonged to the Seattle Storm.