Whitcomb hits 6 of Storm's 14 3s in 87-81 win over Liberty

May 27, 2017, 05:23 am

SEATTLE -- Rookie Sami Whitcomb made six of Seattle's franchise-record 14 3-pointers and the Storm closed on a 9-0 run to beat the New York Liberty 87-81 on Friday night.

Whitcomb made four straight 3-pointers in the second half and was 6 of 8 from long range after halftime to set a WNBA record for 3s in a half. She finished with 22 points in just 15 minutes.

New York went on an 11-0 third-quarter run to take a 63-53 lead, but Seattle made 3-pointers on four consecutive possessions -- three from Whitcomb -- to pull to 70-65. Whitcomb opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer and with under a minute left, she used a high screen from Breanna Stewart to sink a deep 3 for an 85-81 lead. Whitcomb sealed it with two free throws with 23.5 seconds left.

Stewart had 20 points and 12 rebounds for Seattle (3-1), ranked third in the AP power poll. Jewell Loyd added 16 points, and Crystal Langhorne had nine points and 10 rebounds.

Tina Charles scored 22 of her 28 points in the second half for fourth-ranked New York (2-2). Sugar Rodgers made six of the Liberty's nine 3-pointers and scored 21 points. Epiphanny Prince had 19 points and seven assists.

Charles took over in the third quarter, scoring 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting.