VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Skylar Diggins had 21 points and 11 assists and the Seattle Storm hung on to beat the Atlanta Dream 80-78 to end a six-game skid on Friday night at Rogers Arena in the first WNBA regular-season game outside of the United States.
Nneka Ogwumike scored 15 points, Brittney Sykes added 13 and Dominique Malonga had 12 points and eight rebounds as the Storm (17-17) squandered a 15-point lead before snapping Atlanta’s six-game win streak.
Rhyne Howard scored 21 points and Brionna Jones had 18 points and 10 rebounds for Atlanta (21-12).
The Storm led 60-45 with 3:25 left in the third quarter. Erica Wheeler, with a second left in the quarter, threw and inbounds pass to Diggins for a 3-pointer as time expired to give the Storm a 67-55 lead.
But Seattle went scoreless for nearly five minutes to open the fourth and Nia Coffey made a layup that gave Atlanta a 71-69 lead with 4:21 to play.
Howard, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 draft, hit a 3-pointer in the first quarter to break the Dream’s career record for made 3s with 326. Tiffany Hayes (325) previously held the record.
The Dream, who went into the game averaging 9.6 made 3s per game, hit 2 of 13 from behind the arc.
Jordin Canada (hamstring) did not play for Atlanta.
Howard scored 25 points Wednesday to help the Dream beat the Storm 85-75 in Seattle.
The Storm concludes a three-game home stand Sunday against Phoenix. The Dream play at Golden State on Sunday.
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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/WNBA
