Storm hand the Sun their eighth straight loss with a 97-81 victory

SEATTLE (AP) — Skylar Diggins scored 24 points, Gabby Williams had 16 points, eight rebounds and seven assists and the Seattle Storm beat Connecticut 97-81 on Friday night for the Sun’s eighth straight loss.

Diggins, Williams and Ezi Magbegor combined to score 35 points in the first half as the Storm led 52-38. Dominique Malonga ran past the defense for a long pass from Diggins and converted a fast-break layup with 1.2 seconds left to cap the first-half scoring.

Seattle opened the second half on a 18-5 run, capped by Nneka Ogwumike’s 3-pointer, to build a 27-point lead at 70-43. The Storm outscored the Sun 30-17 in the frame to make it 82-55.

Ogwumike finished with 16 points and Magbegor scored 12 for Seattle (10-6). Malonga scored a career-high 11 points off the bench. Diggins, who entered with 5,102 career points, passed Swin Cash (5,119) for 24th on the WNBA’s all-time list.

Rookie Aneesah Morrow had a career-high 20 points to go with 10 rebounds and Bria Hartley added 19 points for Connecticut (2-14). Jacy Sheldon scored 15 points and Olivia Nelson-Ododa had 12. Connecticut was without second-leading scorer Marina Mabrey (15.2 points per game) due to a left knee injury.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball