the seattle storm defeated the washington mystics 98-82 on wednesday to win the 2018 wnba championship in a three-game sweep. seattle all-star forward breanna stewart was named finals most valuable player. their dominant victory was the third career title in franchise history.
stewart averaged over 25 points and six rebounds in the series, and scored 30 points in game three. forward natasha howard, playing in her fourth consecutive wnba finals, provided a career-high 29 points and 14 rebounds in game three. guard sue bird finished with 10 points and 10 assists
the mystics cut an 18-point lead to five in the fourth quarter, but seattle quickly pulled away. "we were up at halftime, but we knew d.c. was going to come back. it was how we countered that when things got close. that's what really separated us again," said stewart.
stewart, 24, is a dynamic player with an immaculate resume. in high school, she was the national gatorade player of the year, the gatorade female athlete of the year and a mcdonald's all-american. she won four ncaa titles - and four finals mop's - with connecticut. in 2016, she was the # 1 draft pick, rookie of the year and played on the olympic team. in 2018, stewart was named most valuable player and first-team all wnba.
seattle won 26 games during the regular season, and entered the playoffs as the #1 seed. last year their record was 15-19. but coach dan hughes, in his first year with the storm, was optimistic despite losing their season opener to phoenix, because they won five in a row afterwards. "i think this was our year. all year you could just see the escalation," hughes said.
bird, an 11-time all-star point guard, anchored seattle to titles in 2004 and 2010. bird, 37, said, "each championship is special in its own way, but this one is probably going to have a different meaning for me. there is probably no comparison to be honest. i didn't know if i'd be playing at this point. our team went through a rebuild and yes, i decided to stay. once we got stewie and jewell, we knew we'd get to the other side, but how do you know you're going to get to the other side this fast?"
i am
- mark j. tuggle
- harlem, usa
- same-gender-loving contemporary descendant of enslaved africans. community activist, feminist, health educator, independent filmmaker, mentor, playwright, poet & spiritual being. featured at, in & on africana.com, afrikan poetry theatre, angel herald, bejata dot com, bet tonight with tavis smiley, blacklight online, black noir, brooklyn moon cafe, gmhc's barbershop, klmo-fm, lgbt community services center, longmoor productions, nuyorican poets cafe, our corner, poz, pulse, rolling out new york, rush arts gallery, saint veronica's church, schomburg center for research in black culture, sexplorations, the citizen, the new york times, the soundz bar, the trenton times, the village voice, upn news, uzuri, venus, vibe, wbai-fm, wnyc-fm & wqht-fm. volunteered with adodi, bailey house, inc., black men's xchange-new york, colorofchange.org, drug policy alliance, east harlem tutorial program, imagenation film & music festival, presente.org, save darfur coalition, the enough project, the osborne association, the sledge group & your black world. worked on films with maurice jamal & heather murphy. writing student of phil bertelsen & ed bullins. mjt975@msn.com.
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