Game Day

Instant Takeaways: Storm Narrowly Lose 7th Straight vs. Sparks

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Seattle Storm center Awa Fam (11) shoots the ball over Los Angeles Sparks forward Cameron Brink (22) during the second half at Climate Pledge Arena. Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images [/caption]

The Seattle Storm played one of their most well-balanced games of the season, but it still wasn’t enough in an 88-83 loss to the Los Angeles Sparks on Wednesday, June 10, at Climate Pledge Arena.

Seattle (3-11) had all five of their starters score at least 11 points, and it shot 47% from the field to the Sparks’ 39%. However, as has been the case recently, the Storm had fewer field-goal and free-throw attempts — resulting in their seventh straight loss.

Los Angeles (6-6) got back to .500 and won its second-straight game. Nneka Ogwumike made good on her return to Seattle with a game-high 24 points and nine rebounds.

Natisha Hiedeman had 16 points to lead the Storm, followed by Dominique Malonga with 15. Flau’jae Johnson (14 points), Awa Fam (12) and Jordan Horston (11) rounded out the top scorers for the Storm. Johnson became the only rookie this season to post multiple double-doubles, as she also had 12 rebounds and six assists.

Here’s what we learned from a near-victory for the Storm on Wednesday.

A familiar start

The beginning of the game looked familiar. Seattle came out hot, and exactly like the Storm’s last game against the Las Vegas Aces, Malonga led the charge.

Seattle took a 7-0 lead by executing their early game plan. The Sparks responded quickly with a 10-0 run that completely erased any memory of the Storm’s strong start — a trend that has become far too frequent this season.

Malonga concluded the first quarter with just five minutes played after being the early catalyst for the Storm. Regardless of how you frame it, Sonia Raman is trying to put together too many different rotations, which, in turn, keeps her top scoring options off the court when they’re just beginning to heat up.

After a Horston buzzer-beater triple, the Storm trailed 22-17 after 10 minutes. When the opening run and Horston bucket is removed, Seattle was essentially dominated for more than seven minutes of the period.

The Storm’s starters saw more minutes in the second quarter. It immediately paid off.

After trailing by nine, the Storm went on an 11-0 run fueled by Malonga and Johnson, in particular. That gave Seattle its first lead since the opening stretch of the contest, and it was a 40-40 tie at halftime.

Seattle had an excellent start to the third quarter, which has arguably been their worst period in most games this season. The Sparks scored the first points, but the Storm mounted another 11-0 run that spanned more than two minutes.

Over five minutes of the game from the end of the second quarter to the beginning of the third, the Storm outscored the Sparks 26-8. It was one of the better stretches of basketball the Storm have had the entire season on both ends of the court.

The Sparks have high-profile stars. Even if their record isn’t what it was expected to be at this point in the season, LA is a more quality opponent than even many of the teams Seattle has lost to this season.

Down the stretch, however, that difference in star power began to show. Despite still being back and forth for much of the fourth quarter, the Sparks converted more of the key plays that kept them an arm’s length ahead of the Storm.

Ogwumike, just like she did for the Storm in 2024 and 2025, led the charge for the Sparks. She single-handedly won games for Seattle in her tenure with the Storm, and she came back to do it against her former team in Climate Pledge Arena.

Plum was the Sparks’ best player for most of the game until Ogwumike totaled [] points in the fourth quarter alone. Even though the Storm were playing good basketball, that veteran presence for the Sparks was apparent.

Trailing 86-83 with 6.3 seconds left, Hiedeman had a decent look from 3-point range for the Storm but missed the mark. Seattle had to foul from there, but there just wasn’t enough time remaining.

Raman’s early substitutions

At the end of the first quarter, all 10 players who entered the game for the Storm had played four minutes, while no player had played more than six minutes.

Those substitutions killed the early momentum the Storm had as Raman continued to opt for keeping fresh legs in the game at all times. But it limited Malonga's impact, in particular, as she was just beginning to heat up.

In 2025, former Storm head coach Noelle Quinn relied too heavily on the contributions of her starters. Now, Raman is making too many substitutions early in an effort to give her opposition different looks, even if it hurts the continuity and momentum of the lineups.

Raman has to find a balance. The Storm’s starters are beginning to separate themselves from the bench, and she has to allow them to find some consistency together within a game.

Offense is improving

In the first 12 games, the Storm scored more than 80 points just three times. They’ve crossed that mark in each of the last two games.

Malonga’s return is making a very clear difference, even if she isn’t posting huge scoring totals. Her presence alone is opening things up for other contributors due to her overwhelming length and dynamic scoring ability.

This Storm team could start to win more games and make a run late in the season. Right now, however, the players and Raman are growing together. It isn’t a project that is going to have immediate success.

Raman has to dial in her rotational approach, and the players have to consistently be more efficient. That’s the only way this translates to more wins in 2026.

Up next

The Storm stay home for a game against the Golden State Valkyries (7-5) at 7 p.m. on Friday, June 12, at Climate Pledge Arena. Seattle lost its season opener to the Valkyries, 91-80, on May 8.