Kayla McBride and her Minnesota Lynx teammates had momentum on their side during the first few minutes of Friday night’s road matchup with the Seattle Storm.
After that, though, they never really regained it.
Nneka Ogwumike finished with 26 points and seven rebounds to lead her team as Seattle pulled in front of the Lynx by as much as 18 in the first half and never looked back, winning 91-63 at Climate Pledge Arena.
McBride finished with 27 to lead Minnesota (16-7) on a night when the Lynx finished 19 for 62 (30.6 percent) from the field and just 7 for 30 (23.3 percent) from 3-point range.
Minnesota was playing without star Napheesa Collier for the third straight game as she continues to deal with plantar fasciitis in her left foot.
“It’s not a three-minute game, it’s a 40-minute game,” McBride said. “The first three minutes don’t mean anything really. Collectively, we didn’t really get set in our defense and get done what we wanted to do consistently. That trickled into our offense because we were putting so much pressure on our defense.
“We understood that. We felt that. I think it was more so just the energy that we had as a group … we weren’t happy with that.”
The Storm’s Jewell Loyd had the game’s first basket, but the Lynx then scored the next nine points to jump on top 9-2.
Following a timeout, though, the Storm (15-8) – playing the eighth game of a WNBA-record nine-game homestand – embarked on a 15-5 run, taking a 17-14 lead on a three-pointer from Ogwumike with 2:49 to play.
Minnesota managed to tie the score three times before a three-pointer by Sami Whitcomb put Seattle in front 25-22 at the quarter break. The Storm scored eight points off the fast break in the first quarter.
“We had no resilience about us defensively,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. “We were awful. We were awful on both ends of the floor to be honest with you.”
Whitcomb’s three-pointer was actually the start of a 16-0 Storm run that gave Seattle a 38-22 lead with 5:20 to go before halftime. Minnesota didn’t score its first second-quarter points until a layup by Diamond Miller with 4:58 remaining.
Led by five points from McBride, the Lynx did mount a 7-0 run late in the first half that cut the gap to 11, but a jump shot by Ezi Magbegor put Seattle in front 50-37 at the half.
Minnesota finished the first half just 13 for 37 (35.1 percent) from the field and were outrebounded 22-12. The Storm finished 19 for 34 (55.9 percent), led by 19 points from Ogwumike. McBride finished with 16 to lead the Lynx.
“We couldn’t string together multiple possessions of playing Lynx basketball,” Reeve said. “It was very, very sporadic.”
McBride – who finished the night as the only Minnesota player in double figures – scored 11 points in the third quarter, but her team still trailed 72-56 entering the fourth. Whitcomb then hit three-straight three-pointers as Seattle closed the door for good.
“We can’t have a game like this again,” said Minnesota guard Courtney Williams, who finished with six points.
“All the way around, we understand that this is not the team we want to be.”
The Lynx now return home for a matchup against Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever at 3 p.m. Sunday, then play host to the Atlanta Dream at noon Wednesday before heading into the month-long Olympic break.
“We want to (go into the break) feeling good and having momentum,” McBride said. “We’ve had such a great first part of the season, and yeah, this moment sucks. This is trash.
“But being able to go into these last two games at home, we’re really excited about it. It gives us the chance to really get our mojo back.”
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