Lloyd has big finish to lift Storm over Mystics in series opener
Jonquel Jones leads way with 19 points as Sun beat Wings
Breanna Stewart had 23 points and 12 rebounds, Jewell Loyd scored 12 of her 16 points in the final five minutes and the fourth-seeded Seattle Storm beat the fifth-seeded Washington Mystics 86-83 on Thursday night.
Loyd didn't make her first field goal until the 4:52 mark of the fourth quarter, but she came up huge in the closing minutes.
Loyd missed a long 3-pointer with 51 seconds left, but Tina Charles grabbed the offensive rebound, leading to Loyd's runner in the lane that gave Seattle an 82-81 lead. Washington turned it over and Loyd was fouled with 24.2 seconds left before making two free throws.
Gabby Williams added 12 points for Seattle, which will host Game 2 on Sunday. Sue Bird scored 10 points and became the fourth player in WNBA history with 100 career 3-pointers in the playoffs.
Delle Donne made 11 of 17 shots and scored 26 points for Washington in her first playoff game since the 2019 WNBA Finals. Natasha Cloud and Ariel Atkins each added 16 points.
Jones powers Sun past Wings
Jonquel Jones had 19 points and eight rebounds, Alyssa Thomas added 15 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists and the Connecticut Sun beat the Dallas Wings 93-68 earlier on Thursday night in Game 1 of their first-round series.
Third-seeded Connecticut pulled away in the third quarter, scoring 13 straight points to build a 64-45 lead. The sixth-seeded Wings went five-plus minutes without a field goal in the third quarter, and the Sun closed the frame on a 17-5 run for an 18-point lead.
Jonquel Jones for threeeeee 🔥<a href="https://twitter.com/jus242?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@jus242</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/ConnecticutSun?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ConnecticutSun</a> <a href="https://t.co/38OdDh2VyC">pic.twitter.com/38OdDh2VyC</a>
—@espnWGame 2 of the best-of-three series is Sunday in Uncasville.
"We've been working the entire season to be here, so we don't want to squander this opportunity," Jones said of the home-court advantage. "We got to come up with that right intensity."
Dallas scoring leader Arike Ogunbowale sat out because of an abdominal injury. The Wings got a boost when Satou Sabally played in her first game since July 12. Sabally scored 10 points in the first half, including a half-court heave to beat the first-quarter buzzer, but she went scoreless after halftime.
Allisha Gray led Dallas with 17 points. Tyasha Harris each added 13 points and Marina Mabrey had 11.
