Storm rumble to blowout win over Fever
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – In their July 1st matchup against the Indiana Fever, the Seattle Storm romped to a blowout victory. The first quarter between the two teams were within single digits, but Seattle was able to pull away after the first 15 minutes. The Storm built towards their full potential, as newly signed Tina Charles looked much better in her second game with Seattle. With the win, the Storm have now won eight of their last ten games.
Eight-time WNBA all-star Tina Charles is a huge addition to the Storm lineup, and will certainly be a critical player when the postseason comes around. Her first game with the Storm was not much to marvel at, but that much should be expected when a player that just recently signed plays their first minutes with a team. In her second game with the Storm, Charles made a noticeable impact. Charles led Seattle in rebounding, and was the team’s leading scorer off the bench. Teammate Gabby Williams discussed Charles’ play.
“She’s just being Tina. That’s all we need from her, really. She’s just being herself; I think that she is going to integrate really well. It is not easy to come in during the middle of the season and learn all of these offenses, all of our schemes, principles, everything. What is great about her is that she doesn’t need to know all of that. That says a whole lot about who she is”
While Breanna Stewart led Seattle in scoring, the Storm saw contributions up and down their roster. Seattle shot poorly from three, one of their staples offensively, so they used contributions from Ezi Magbegor, Gabby Williams, and Steph Talbot to push past a young Indiana team. The Storm attacked the rim, getting to the charity stripe often and passing the ball around. Head coach Noelle Quinn discussed the team’s mindset of getting to the rim.
“It was one of our goals, we know that Indiana fouls the most in the league at the moment. We wanted to take more free throws than Indiana attempted. I thought that Stewie was very aggressive, honestly, she gets beat up a lot getting to her spots on the block. I thought she had great physicality and poise getting to the line”
After a rough and tumble beginning to the season, it mostly seems like the Storm have found out how to win together. With that being said, Seattle is now trying to integrate Tina Charles into the roster, after going through the growing pains of not having enough practice with Gabby Williams and Briann January. There will be some potential frustrations in getting the chemistry just right, but it should be more positive rather than negative to add Charles to this lineup.
Seattle’s next contest comes on the road, this Sunday, July 3rd. Tipoff is at 12PM PST against the Atlanta Dream. The Storm and Dream face off in a rematch off their June 7th matchup in Seattle, when the Storm won by 12. The game takes place in Atlanta, as the Storm go on a three-game road trip.