Stewart has double-double, Storm secure top seed in playoffs

Aug 18, 2018, 05:14 am

SEATTLE -- Breanna Stewart had 22 points and 15 rebounds and the Seattle Storm beat the New York Liberty 85-77 on Friday night to secure the top seed in the WNBA playoffs.

Seattle (25-8) has won 15 of its last 18 games and has home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.

Sue Bird had 13 points and six assists for Seattle. The Storm set the WNBA single-season record for 3-pointers with its 284th, passing Phoenix's total from 2007. Stewart made a wide-open 3 in the first quarter to break Seattle's franchise record for field goals in a season, topping Lauren Jackson's 258 in 2007.

Seattle opened the fourth quarter on a 16-5 spurt to take a 78-63 lead.

Tina Charles scored 21 points for New York (7-26), and Sugar Rodgers scored all 12 of her points in the fourth quarter. The Liberty have lost 12 straight. Kiah Stokes moved into sixth on New York's rebounding list, passing Teresa Weatherspoon.

It was Seattle's franchise-record fourth straight sellout.