Jewell Loyd leads the way as Storm cruise to road win over Fever

Jewell Loyd rained 3s, Gabby Williams turned steals into fast-break buckets while Ezi Magbegor and Tina Charles comprised a dominant duo inside to lead the Storm to one of their best performances of the season.

Loyd scored 25 points – one shy of her season high, Williams tallied 14 points, six rebounds and two steals, Magbegor had 12 points and 11 rebounds and Charles (13 points and eight rebounds) nearly had a double-double for Seattle, which beat the Indiana Fever 95-73 Tuesday night in front of 2,585 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

It was a resurgent performance for Loyd, who scored fewer than 10 points in five of the previous seven games after tallying double digits in 12 of the first 13 this season.

During last Friday’s 73-57 win against Indiana at Climate Pledge Arena, the four-time WNBA All-Star had six points and she scored nine in a 90-76 loss at Atlanta on Sunday.

This time, the Fever had no defense for Loyd, who connected on 9 of 19 shots, including 4 of 10 on three-pointers. She also had three assists and three steals in 29 minutes.

Loyd, who began the game with a three-pointer, had nine points in the first quarter when the Storm led 23-16 after the first quarter. And she had 14 in the first half to carry Seattle to a 44-35 lead.

The Storm, which entered the game with an 11-1 record when leading or tied at halftime, put the game away in the third while outscoring the Fever 33-23.

Seattle led 77-58 to start the fourth quarter and was never seriously challenged the rest of the way.

Breanna Stewart finished with 12 points, six rebounds, three assists and three blocks for the Storm (14-8), which concludes their three-game road trip Thursday in Los Angeles.

Kelsey Mitchell led Indiana (5-18) with 21 points.

NOTE:

• Briann January and Sue Bird, who are retiring after the season, were honored by the Indiana Fever during a pregame ceremony. Lin Dunn, the former Storm coach who drafted Bird and led Indiana to the 2012 WNBA title with January, presented both players with a framed poster commemorating their careers.

• Stewart won the WNBA Western Conference Player of the Month award for June. She averaged 22.0 points, 7.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game while helping the Storm to a 7-4 record in 11 games. It’s the first time this season and the third time during her career in which Stewart has won the award, previously receiving the recognition in May 2021 and July 2018.