Overview
- Portland defeated Seattle 84-82 on Friday night to finish the season series 4-0 and move to 14-20 while the Storm fell to 7-29.
- Rookie Holly Winterburn scored a career-high 20 points, with 18 in the first half, and added seven rebounds, five assists and three steals in about 21 minutes off the bench.
- Bridget Carleton, Carla Leite and Megan DiLeo each supplied 14 points for Portland, while Seattle received 20 points and nine rebounds from rookie Awa Fam and saw leading scorer Dominique Malonga struggle, finishing 3-for-15 for nine points.
- Portland built a 16-point second-half lead but committed 15 turnovers that led to 28 points for Seattle and allowed a late rally that ended with a missed buzzer three by Natisha Hiedeman.
- The result contradicted pregame projections that heavily favored Seattle — models and Polymarket priced the Storm with roughly a 68% win probability — and leaves Portland seeking cleaner ball control as it heads to Phoenix and Seattle focused on development in a rebuilding season.