Jewell Loyd gets hot in fourth quarter but can’t help Storm break Fever

The Fever hurried and harassed Jewell Loyd for three quarters with an aggressive double-teaming and trapping defense that held her to 13 points on 4-for-14 shooting.
However, as Loyd is prone to do during her historic season, the Storm star got hot in the final frame while scoring 19 points of her 32 points, including 16 in a row during a scintillating three-minute for the Storm.
Loyd unlocked an 81-81 tie with a rainbow three over rookie Grace Berger to with 2:16 left before Kelsey Mitchell put Indiana back up on top with a couple of free throws and long jumper.
Two of the Storm’s final four possessions ended with Loyd turnovers, which proved costly in a 90-86 defeat on Wednesday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Loyd topped 30 points for the 20th time in her career, including 10 this season, which leads the league.
She also 780 points this season and passed former Minnesota Lynx star Seimone Augustus (769) for fourth place WNBA all-time single season scoring list.
Loyd is 91 points away from the record of 860, which was set by Phoenix’s Diana in 2006.
Ezi Magbegor had 19 points and 13 rebounds for the Storm while Sami Whitcomb chipped in 10 and pushed her consecutive games with a three-pointer to 25.
Once again, Loyd was spectacular, while but her late-game heroics were overshadowed by Mitchell who poured in a season-high 36 points.
NaLyssa Smith finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds for Indiana (10-24) and Aliyah Boston had 12 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.
With six games remaining, the Storm (10-24) is five games behind streaking Los Angeles (14-18), which has won five straight, for the final playoff spot.