Seattle Storms into Western finals series

Lauren Jackson scored 18 points and the Seattle Storm advanced to the WNBA Western Conference finals with a 64-54 victory over the Minnesota Lynx on Monday night in Seattle.

Seattle swept the best-of-3 series, winning Game 1 in Minnesota 70-58 on Saturday.

It is the first time Seattle has advanced past the first round of the playoffs. The Storm were swept by Los Angeles in 2002, their only other playoff appearance.

The Storm lost starting point guard and U.S. Olympian Sue Bird to a broken nose early in the first half. She was hit setting a screen on Minnesota’s Teresa Edwards.

As Edwards was trying to fight through the screen, her elbow caught Bird in the face. Bird fell to the floor, then ran off the court with her hands covering her face and blood dripping from her nose. Edwards was called for a foul on the play.

Bird returned to the Seattle bench midway through the second half holding an ice bag over her nose and watched her team put together an impressive run to end Minnesota’s season. Down 48-45 with just under 10 minutes remaining, Seattle went on a 14-1 run to take a 59-49 lead with just under 3 minutes left. The Storm scored 19 of the game’s final 25 points.

Seattle’s defense also frustrated the Lynx, forcing 20 turnovers.

Sun 80, Mystics 70

At Uncasaville, Conn., Lindsay Whalen matched her career high with 21 points and Connecticut beat Washington to even the best-of-3 Eastern Conference semifinal.

The deciding third game will be Wednesday night at Connecticut.