Instant Takeaways: Storm Capture 2nd Win in 5 Games vs. Tempo
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The Seattle Storm celebrate a Jade Melbourne bucket in the team’s 90-78 victory over the Toronto Tempo on Wednesday, Aug. 26, at Climate Pledge Arena. Credit: Courtesy of Seattle Storm [/caption]
Flau’jae Johnson, Dominique Malonga and Jade Melbourne combined for 54 points, and the Seattle Storm finally clinched a close game with a 90-78 victory over the Toronto Tempo on Wednesday, Aug. 26, at Climate Pledge Arena.
Seattle (8-31) snapped a three-game losing streak, won its second game in the last five, and still has a chance to reach double-digit wins by the end of the season. Toronto (11-27) has now lost 14 of its last 15 games and dropped its first against the Storm all season.
Melbourne turned in a solid game from the point guard spot with 16 points, six rebounds, seven assists and one steal. Johnson had a team-high 20 points, and Malonga added 18 points, seven rebounds and three steals.
The Tempo were led by a game-high 24 points, three rebounds and five assists from Kiki Rice, while Isabelle Harrison finished with 17 points and 14 rebounds.
Here’s what we learned from one of the most encouraging Storm wins in weeks.
Storm defense shows up early
Melbourne immediately got to work, scoring nine first-quarter points for the Storm to help them out to a four-point lead after one period. Johnson added five points, just a few days after a 23-point outing on Monday.
The Tempo made just 32% of their shots in the opening period, which was a welcome change for Seattle. The Storm lost by 22 points to the Dallas Wings in their previous matchup after allowing the Wings to make 50% of their attempts.
That was an immediate credit to Sonia Raman’s adjustments on that end of the floor, even if the Tempo aren’t the same caliber of team as the Wings.
Rice emerged for the Tempo in the second quarter, and Toronto held multiple small leads in the second quarter. Although it remained close, the Tempo were much more efficient than they were in the opening period.
The Storm still did a good job getting takeaways. Toronto had eight first-half giveaways that led to 12 points on the other end for Seattle. That defensive aggressiveness was far better than their previous outing.
Both teams were tossing up bricks from beyond the arc, but Storm forward Awa Fam sank her first points of the game on a 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer to give Seattle a 43-42 lead.
Full lineup helps close it out
It was tight in the third quarter as well. Although neither team remains in the playoff hunt, both made it clear they were still hungry for wins — the Storm especially, considering they are the last team that doesn’t have double-digit wins in 2026.
Seattle started to make a run late in the period, and another late three from Fam gave the Storm a six-point lead to punctuate an 11-3 stretch. Fam had seven points in the third quarter, making up for Melbourne’s zero points in the period.
The Storm stayed aggressive to begin the fourth quarter, opening up with a 9-2 run in under four minutes. That gave Seattle its first double-digit lead of the game and put the Tempo on their heels as they tried to slow the Storm’s offense.
And even as the Storm finally got going, they continued to leave points off the board. Zia Cooke and Melbourne both missed easy layups at the end of that run, allowing Toronto to keep some hope when it could have easily been shut down.
Cooke’s performance, however, was a net positive for the Storm with 10 points, four assists and two steals off the bench. She matched Fam’s team-high scoring output among the Storm’s bench players.
Seattle kept the Tempo at arm’s length thanks to good team basketball, and they finally managed to finish a close game with a win.
What this win means for rest of season
The Storm hadn’t won a game by double digits since July 6 — an 82-64 victory over the Los Angeles Sparks. Even in that game, Seattle had just 24 bench points.
This game felt different, partially because the Storm dominated late, but also because they got 30 points from their bench. Raman made that a point of emphasis also, as Katie Lou Samuelson played a season-high 25 minutes and three other bench players were on the court for 10 or more minutes.
Melbourne might be more of a pure point guard than Natisha Hiedeman, who is currently out with a shoulder injury. She can set up the offense and distribute extremely well when needed, and that was a major boon for the Storm in this game.
With only five games remaining, there’s a good chance the Storm manage to get to 10 wins as opponents begin to rest starters for the playoffs. Their loss to the Wings was equally as much about being rusty as it was about playing a good team with that rust on.
Obviously, there are no more meaningful games remaining this season with the Storm out of playoff contention. But it’s important that Raman has a vision for the starting lineup and team heading into her second season. That’s what these next five games will be about.
Next up
Seattle has one more game before the FIBA break, and that will be at home against the Los Angeles Sparks (13-25) at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 30. After that, the Storm will be off until Thursday, Sept. 17.
