Breanna Stewart won four NCAA championships at UConn and won four Final Four MVP awards.
Now she can add a WNBA title and a WNBA finals Most Valuable Player award to her resume.
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The league’s regular-season MVP scored a game-high 30 points and grabbed eight rebounds as the Seattle Storm defeated the host Washington Mystics 98-82 Wednesday night to clinch the WNBA championship.
Seattle swept the best-of-five series, 3-0.
It was the third WNBA crown in as many championship appearances for the Storm. They also claimed the title in 2004 and 2010.
Natasha Howard, who won a title with the Minnesota Lynx last season, had 29 points on 11-for-14 shooting and a game-high 14 rebounds for the Storm. Alysha Clark added 15 points and nine rebounds, and Sue Bird, a member of all three Seattle championship teams, had 10 points and 10 assists.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Seattle Storm forward Breanna Stewart holds and poses with the trophy with her teammates after Game 3 of the WNBA finals. Photograph: Nick Wass/AP
Seattle guard Jewell Loyd had just six points on 2-for-11 shooting, but it didn’t hurt the Storm.
Elena Delle Donne scored 23 points, and Kristi Toliver had 22 for the Mystics, who were appearing in the WNBA finals for the first time in franchise history.
After trailing 69-53 entering the fourth quarter, the Mystics rallied to within five points at 72-67 on a 3-pointer by Tierra Ruffin-Pratt with 6:49 remaining.
But Stewart was fouled by Delle Donne while making a jump shot from the free-throw line on the next possession and converted the three-point play, sparking an 8-0 run to put Seattle back in control.
The Storm shot 50% from both the field (36 of 72) and from 3-point range (13 of 26). Stewart was 4-for-5 from behind the arc.
Washington shot 43.5% from the field (30 of 69) but were 8 of 23 from beyond the 3-point arc. The Mystics were 0-for-16 on 3-pointers in a 75-73 loss in Seattle in Game 2.
Stewart and Howard each scored 17 points in the first half as the Storm took a 47-30 lead.
Seattle overcame an early deficit to lead 20-16 after the first quarter.
Ned Dishman/Getty Images
The Seattle Storm defeated the Washington Mystics, 98-82, in Game 3 of the WNBA Finals at EagleBank Arena in Fairfax, Virginia, to complete a series sweep and capture their third WNBA title Wednesday night.
League MVP Breanna Stewart led the way with 30 points (11-of-22 shooting) and eight rebounds as she added Finals MVP honors to her stacked trophy case, while frontcourt running mate Natasha Howard poured in a playoff career-high 29 points to send the Mystics home empty-handed.
Sue Bird Officially Passes Torch to Breanna Stewart After Dominant Showing
Game 3 was a seminal moment for the Storm.
Not only did Stewart round out one of the most impressive individual seasons in recent memory, but Sue Bird (10 points, 10 assists) also padded her Hall of Fame-caliber resume with a third title after leading the Storm to championships in 2004 and 2010.
At 37 years old, Bird is no longer the engine that drives Seattle. Instead, that honor belongs to Stewart—the 24-year-old dynamo who appears poised to anchor Seattle's offense for another decade-plus.
Therein lies the beauty of Wednesday's result.
While Bird is inching toward the end of her legendary career, Stewart is just getting started. And if the 2018 season was any indication, Stewart is on track to cement herself as a Storm lifer the way Bird has since she arrived in the Pacific Northwest in 2002.
Mystics Must Find Answers Beyond Elena Delle Donne Next Season
Following Game 2, Elena Delle Donne stressed a need to diversify her scoring portfolio.
"I'm more than just a back-to-the-basket type of player. Playing in space opens up my teammates, also opens myself up," she said, according to ESPN.com's Kevin Pelton. "We've got to find a way to not become one-dimensional and just try to force it in. When that's not working, we've got to spread the floor and attack. Fouls are called when you're on the move, when you're attacking, but back to the basket, it's a lot easier for them to not call fouls."
However, the Mystics didn't have much success adhering to that strategy Wednesday.
The Storm contested seemingly every shot Delle Donne took, and she drew a crowd of defenders any time she received a pass—especially if it came below the free-throw line—to disrupt her rhythm and prevent the offense from flowing more easily through her teammates.
While Delle Donne dropped 23 hard-earned points, the Mystics shot 34.8 percent from three one game after they missed all 16 of their long-range attempts. The Storm rotated seamlessly along the perimeter to limit the damage Delle Donne's supporting cast could inflict.
Delle Donne, Kristi Toliver (22 points) and Ariel Atkins (nine points) combined to make five of Washington's triples, while all other Mystics players combined for only three.
As those figures indicate, Washington has to regroup this offseason, learn from the problems that plagued the offense over the last three games and formulate ways to keep the offense humming even when Delle Donne can't get buckets at will.
Otherwise, hoisting the hardware the Storm captured Wednesday night could become something of a pipe dream.
Storm's Depth Proves They're a Dynasty in the Making
Stewart was the headliner, and for good reason.
But without Howard and Alysha Clark, the Storm wouldn't have ascended to the WNBA throne.
Howard, a double-double machine, cranked out her finest effort of the postseason with a title in sight, as she shot 11-of-14 from the floor. She also pulled down 14 boards, including six on the offensive glass, to generate a handful of extra possessions.
Speaking of tone-setting efforts, Clark stuffed the stat sheet with 15 points, nine rebounds and four assists. She came up with timely bucket after timely bucket whenever the Storm started to sputter.
With those two plugged in alongside Stewart, not to mention 2015 No. 1 overall pick Jewell Loyd, the Storm have a Big Three that can serve as the fulcrum of a potential dynasty.
Now all eyes will turn toward their quest for a repeat.
What's Next?
A championship parade in Seattle.
The cast of characters has changed since the Storm last held up the WNBA championship trophy, and there were many heroes in this 2018 title chase. But above all, Sue Bird is the Storm's rock, and she cemented her legend with title No. 3.
So here the Seattle Storm are, back on top of the WNBA world, and here Sue Bird is, a champion thrice over.
Déjà vu, and champagne, all over again.
Bird was a linchpin in 2004, when the Storm took their first title, and a stalwart in 2010, when they won again. And now, 14 years after the initial celebration, Bird is the heart and soul of yet another Seattle team that hugged and mugged and savored the trappings of ultimate victory.
“On the court, off the court, honestly, Sue is at the center of why we’re here, again,’’ the Storm’s president and general manager, Alisha Valavanis, told ESPN’s Holly Rowe as the Storm received a new trophy to add to the bulging case.
The Storm did it in style, completing a three-game sweep of the Washington Mystics on Wednesday with a 98-82 win in Fairfax, Virginia. They were pushed in the fourth quarter, when the Mystics rallied to within five with 6:40 to play. But as they have all series – all season – the Storm had the answers.
The brilliant Breanna Stewart, arguably the best women’s basketball player in the world, hit a tough shot in traffic, was fouled, and completed the three-point play. Natasha Howard, the best player on the court on Wednesday, added a put-back, and Sami Whitcomb came off the bench to drain a three-pointer.
Suddenly, the lead was back up to 13, and after a Bird three-pointer and drive, and another Whitcomb hoop, well, it was time for the Storm to party.
Stewart, the WNBA’s Most Valuable Player this season, added Finals MVP to her resume, which includes four NCAA titles at Connecticut, for which she was named the outstanding player in each of them.
Stewart had stewed during her first two Storm seasons, unwilling to accept mediocrity after such a storied collegiate and Olympic career. She burned with the desire for similar prosperity in the pros, and made it happen.
Stewart had 30 points, and Howard, who had been a bit player in Minnesota last year when the Lynx won the title, was a monumental contributor all year in Seattle after her acquisition in a trade. Howard capped her breakout season with 29 points (on 11 of 14 shooting) with a game-high 14 rebounds.
Heroes abounded for the Storm. Alysha Clark has been the trigger of their suffocating defense all season, was again on Wednesday, and added 15 points in the clincher. Whitcomb was again a factor off the bench with six points, and Jewell Loyd, despite an off-shooting night (2-for-11, 0-for-3 on threes) still found a way to contribute with six assists and four rebounds.
But everyone on the delirious Storm side may have been happiest for two people – first-year coach Dan Hughes, and the venerated veteran Bird.
Hughes came out of retirement at age 63 for one more crack at a WNBA title, which had eluded him during 15 previous seasons coaching in San Antonio, Cleveland and Charlotte. Inheriting a team that had finished 15-19 and 16-18 the previous two years, but dripping with talent, he instilled a defensive mindset and placed his trust in the players. Then he watched them turn into the best team in the league during the season, and validate that status in the postseason.
He had a vital accomplice in Bird, as a coach on the court, but still amazingly productive at age 37, who helped will the Storm back to prominence. It’s only fitting she closed out the season with a double-double. Bird scored 10 points (including the final two with under a minute to play) and dished out 10 assists, many on her patented no-look passes.
The fact that she did it with a broken nose (the fifth of her career), wearing a plastic mask that was painfully poked in the third quarter, just added to the lore of one of the greatest athletes Seattle has ever seen. Bird dabbed away the blood and went right back out to steady the Storm through Washington’s fourth-quarter rally.
Once, it was Bird and Lauren Jackson who powered this franchise to such great heights. Bird persevered through a long and at times painful rebuild after Jackson’s departure, gutted her way through a knee injury that cost her an entire season, determined to still be there when the good times returned.
And now it is Bird and Stewart and Loyd and Howard and more, a new championship cast is Seattle. The nucleus is young and still hungry, except for Bird, who is, well, not so young, but still hungry.
“It’s each one of them, to a player, starting with Sue Bird, but every single player is why we’re here,” Valavanis told Rowe.
And Bird became emotional in her interview with Rowe.
“You just never know when you’re going to be back – you’re going to make me cry – and I didn’t think I’d be back,’’ Bird said. “To do it with this group, the way we did it, I don’t even know how to react.”
No need to analyze, Sue. It’s time to celebrate.
Again.
FAIRFAX, Va. -- WNBA Finals participants Breanna Stewart of the Seattle Storm and Elena Delle Donne of the Washington Mystics were both named to the All-WNBA first team Wednesday.
Stewart, the league MVP, was the only unanimous first-team selection. Her Storm beat the Mystics 98-82 in Game 3 on Wednesday to sweep the series and win the franchise's third WNBA title, with Stewart also being named Finals MVP.
Phoenix guard Diana Taurasi was named to the first team for the 10th time in her career and Delle Donne for the third time. Making their first appearance on the first team were Stewart, Dallas center Liz Cambage and Atlanta guard Tiffany Hayes. Cambage was named to the first team on all but one of the 39 ballots of a media panel. Delle Donne was named to 35 first-team ballots, Taurasi 31 and Hayes 21.
Los Angeles forward/center Candace Parker, Minnesota forward Maya Moore, Dallas guard Skylar Diggins-Smith, Phoenix center Brittney Griner and Chicago guard Courtney Vandersloot were named to the second team. All had previously received all-WNBA honors except Vandersloot, who led the WNBA with 8.6 assists per game this season.
Players received five points for each first-team vote and three for each second-team vote.
The first-team players received $10,000 apiece and those on the second team $5,000 each.
