The Storm entered the month-long Olympic break with a three-game winning streak. The Atlanta Dream entered the break with an eight-game losing streak.
So much for trends.
Tina Charles made a short jump shot with 1.8 seconds left to help Atlanta to an 83-81 victory over the Seattle Storm on Friday night in Atlanta.
The Dream overcame a 14-point deficit in the second half and handed Seattle its first loss of the season after leading after three quarters.
The Dream trailed 43-29 at the start of the third quarter, but slowly came back and was able to fend off a late attack from the Storm.
Atlanta led 75-69 with 2:22 minutes left in the game. Seattle narrowed the gap to 79-78 with a Skylar Diggins-Smith layup and tied the game at 81-81 after Jewell Loyd turned the game around with a three-pointer with 4.6 seconds left.
The game seemed destined to go into overtime, but Charles, a former Storm player, made sure that didn’t happen.
The Storm were in control for much of the first half.
All-Star Nneka Ogwumike scored the Storm’s first basket – a three-pointer – but then received two fouls in the first minute.
Oguwmike was sent to the bench after the second foul, but Diggins-Smith made up for any potential points deficit by scoring her team’s next 10 points, giving the Storm an early 13-7 lead.
An entertaining first quarter ended with the Storm scoring the final five points to take a 22-18 lead.
Diggins-Smith scored 13 points in the first quarter for the Storm, who might have had a bigger lead had they not been so uncharacteristically sloppy in the first quarter.
The Storm entered Friday night on a streak of 18 straight games with 15 or fewer turnovers, the fourth-longest streak in WNBA history. But they had seven of them in the first quarter.
Ogwumike returned early in the second quarter, and that, along with the fact that the Storm had only one turnover in that period, helped Seattle extend its lead to 41-29 at halftime.
Diggins-Smith led the Storm with 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting in the first half and ended Seattle’s halftime point streak with a three-point play. Ogwumike scored nine points in the first half.
Atlanta was able to close the gap to 49-44 midway through the third quarter thanks to Rhyne Howard’s third three-pointer in a minute.
The Storm, who led by as many as 14 points at the beginning of the quarter, stabilized and led 60-55 in the final quarter.
Seattle entered the game with a 15-0 record when they led at the end of the third quarter, but that streak also ended.
Atlanta took a 64-63 lead with 6:24 left, their first lead since an 18-17 lead in the first quarter. After that, the Dream never trailed again.
Diggins-Smith led the Storm with 29 points and Loyd added 21.
