The Las Vegas Aces erased a second double-digit playoff deficit in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals on Friday night. Seattle Storm forward Brenna Stewart didn’t let him go any further than that.
Stuart, the 2018 league MVP who is finishing his first season back from the Achilles Tier, went on his own 11-point streak to start the fourth quarter. He picked up Storm from a one-possession game to win 93-80. This The best-of-five series continues Sunday afternoon.
The fourth-quarter fire made Stuart the first player to score a record-breaking night with at least 35 points and 15 rebounds. Staff P te Sue Bird set his own record earlier in the game to assist in the playoffs.
Stuart, Bird set WNBA play records
Stuart scored 37 points in 15 of 24 shootings and 5 of 8 3-pointers. She added 15 rebounds, two assists and four blocks. The former Yukon star became the first player in the WNBA playoff game with at least 35 points and 15 rebounds and was two points short of breaking the all-time playoff scoring record.
Bird, 17-year-old Pte, who already has three titles with Storm, has made the finals and playoff record with 16 assists. He also has a career. He had 10 of them in the first half and four outs to Stuart in the fourth quarter as he scored his 15 points in the frame.
Jewel Lloyd came off the bench to score 28 and Epiphany Prince 11. Seattle has a 17-point lead in the half and caught it with an ace after tying it in the final 10 minutes.
Angel McCarthy led Aces with 20 points and nine rebounds. Aaja Wills scored 19 runs with the help of 6 assists.
Switch on in the second quarter
Aces could have had a good start with 8-0, but Stuart told ESPN’s Holly Rowe that Storm had arrived here during the break. They can, and can, weather it.
Storm turned a one-possession game after the first quarter, 23-21, into a 17-point one by half time. McChetry put up three 3-pointers to give the 3xes a 34-31 lead, but it was all in Seattle for the next four minutes before Storm went 18-2.
By the end of the first 20 minutes, the storm was over 26-6. Bird had 10 assistants, half of whom had a final record while Aces had nine combined.
The rest of the comps were no better. The storm shot a total of .7 64. percent percent, including hitting from to of. They made 13 of 44 shots overall (29.5 percent) and led the Mout office by 12 points.
Aces will erase the second double-digit deficit
Aces did just that during the full five-match series with the Connecticut Sun in the semifinals. They bounced back and erased a 16-point deficit to move on. And in Game 1, they erased the 19-point deficit by keeping Storm at 12 points in the third quarter.
His offense was rocked by an 18-2 run at the end of the quarter, which went 69-67 from the bucket into the final 10 minutes. The MC office told Rowan at the break that his team was going to kick him out as it was the first final for him. The 11-year-old Pete is looking for his first title after reaching the Atlanta Dream three times in the final.
Daniel Robinson came within a point and got a -1 and hit the backend of a free throw to tie the game at 67-67 after 10 seconds. Aces never took the lead.
More from Yahoo Sports:
Devoted problem solver. Tv advocate. Avid zombie aficionado. Proud twitter nerd. Subtly charming alcohol geek.
