Given a chance to move within a win of securing a spot in the Commissioner’s Cup title game, the Storm followed one of their best performances of the season with arguably their worst outing.
After clobbering the Minnesota Lynx and handing them their first loss three days earlier, Seattle fell behind in the first half and never found its footing in Saturday’s 76-70 defeat and first-ever game against the Golden State Valkyries in San Francisco.
The upset loss snapped the Storm’s three-game winning streak and dropped them into a second-place tie in the Western Conference Cup standings with the Phoenix Mercury and Valkyries at 3-2 behind the Lynx (4-1).
Seattle, which fell to 6-5 overall, continues its three-game road trip with a game against the Los Angeles Sparks (4-8, 2-3 in Cup) on Tuesday in its Cup finale. Meanwhile, the Lynx host the Aces, Golden State plays at Dallas and Phoenix plays at Las Vegas.
If more than two teams are tied at the top of the Cup standings, several tie-breaking criteria are used to determine who advances to the Cup Final, including head-to-head records, point differential, points scored in Cup games and higher winning percentage in all conference games.
The final tiebreaker is a random draw.
The Storm lost their grip on their Cup fate and a potential $500,000 payday in the first quarter on Saturday against an undermanned expansion team with a retooled roster.
In the past week, Golden State suspended contracts with Cecilia Zandalasini, Julie Vanlo and Janelle Salaun, which allows them to compete in the upcoming FIBA Women’s EuroBasket.
The Valkyries, who recently signed Laeticia Amihere and Aerial Powers, reconfigured their lineup and started rookie guard Carla Leite and former Storm forward Stephanie Talbot.
“I don’t really know how they’re going to start so the focus becomes us,” coach Noelle Quinn said before the game. “We know how we want to play. … Once we get a feel for how they’re going to start and their lineups, then we can adjust to the game.”
The Storm stumbled early and trailed 21-15 after the first quarter.
Valkyries forward Kayla Thornton dropped Seattle into a 15-point hole after knocking down consecutive three-pointer that sent the sellout crowd of 18,064 at Chase Center into a frenzy and put Golden State on top 42-27 late in the second period.
Things got worse for the Storm in the second quarter mostly because they were unable to unlock the Valkyries 2-3 zone defense that forced them away from the basket.
Golden State outscored Seattle 46-24 in the paint.
Remarkably, the Valkyries tallied all 20 of their third-quarter points in the paint, including a driving layup from center Temi Fagbenle to put Golden State ahead 58-36 midway in the period.
The Storm seized momentum early in the fourth quarter thanks to backup forward Alysha Clark, who scored eight points to spark a 12-3 run that cut their deficit to 67-62 with 5:24 left.
In the final minute, Skylar Diggins drove to the rim where she drew a foul, converted a contested layup and sank the ensuing free throw to cut Golden State’s lead to 74-70.
However, the Valkyries (5-5) held on at the end thanks to Thornton, who had two free throws in the final 14 seconds. She finished with a game-high 22 points, while Fagbenle had 16 and Leite added 14.
Diggins scored a team-high 21 points, Clark had 11 and Ezi Magbegor 10 for the Storm, who lost the rebounding battle 33-20.