Storm once again fold to Aces, but they had a slightly better hand this time out

Heading into their game against defending WNBA champion Las Vegas, Storm coach Noelle Quinn wanted to see just how much her young team has grown since their first matchup four weeks ago ended with the most lopsided loss in franchise history.

“I’m excited to see where we are as a group,” Quinn said. “A couple of things have changed since that game. … Our rookies are playing some big minutes and I think our defense is getting better.

“We’re trending in a lot of positive directions. It’s not a barometer as far as the Aces are the defending champs, but seeing that we’re getting better every single day and game — that’s our gauge.”

The Storm lost 96-63 Thursday night at Michelob Ultra Arena, but in many ways that only a coach can truly appreciate, the 33-point setback represented signs of progress considering they were drubbed 105-64 by Las Vegas in the season opener.

“I’m being stretched in a lot of ways,” Quinn said. “Not only during the games, but in practice and having to really teach and emphasize. Ever little detail matters and every day matters. With vets and top talent, you can kind of breeze over A and get to B right away, but with this group we cannot. So, we have to be very specific with how we do things every single day, but I’m enjoying it because it’s different.

“And it’s a good different for me because of our youth. It allows us to be super positive in the things that sometimes you may take for granted. Like getting one person better every single day for this group is a success for us. … This is a unique group. They enjoy each other. They empower each other. They cheer for each other and it’s not just about looking at the wins and losses, but the day-to-day effort, how hard we’re going and how much we’re getting better.”

Quinn highlights Ezi Magbegor as signs of improvement. The fourth-year center finished with 23 points on 9-for-17 shooting, 13 rebounds two assists and a block Thursday.

In her third straight outing, rookie guard Ivana Dojkic notched a career-high in scoring while tallying 16 points and three assists.

And Jewell Loyd finished with a relative pedestrian 17 points, which was well below her league-leading 24.7 scoring average.

The trio accounted for 56 while the remaining nine players combined for seven points on 2-for-5 shooting from the field.

Similar to their first matchup, the Storm lost control of the game in the second quarter and were blown out in the fourth.

Seattle was outscored 25-14 in the second period May 20 at Climate Pledge Arena, which turned an 18-14 deficit at the start of the period to a 43-28 Las Vegas lead at the break.

This time, the Storm were up 35-33 with 2:39 in the second quarter when the Aces finished the first half with a 14-2 run surge to go ahead 47-37 at halftime.

Former Washington Husky star Kelsey Plum scored seven of her 19 points during the decisive spurt, which began with her three-pointer and capped when she drove through the defense for a driving layup just before the break.

The Aces outscored the Storm 20-15 in the third quarter and began the fourth ahead 67-52.

That’s when Seattle completely fell apart and connected on 4 of 14 field goals while allowing Las Vegas to drain 12 of 17 shots. The Aces outscored the Storm 29-11 in the fourth, which drew parallels to the first matchup when Las Vegas enjoyed a 31-16 scoring edge in the final frame.

Jackie Young led the Aces (9-1) with a game-high 28 points. A’ja Wilson finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds while Kierstan Bell chipped in 12 points off the bench.

Seattle concludes its three-game road trip Saturday against Dallas.