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Skylar Diggins Drills Clutch Jumper to Snap Aces Win Streak, Clinch Game 2 Win for Storm

Skylar Diggins, Nneka Ogwumike and the Storm found the answers against the Aces that the entire WNBA had been searching for since August 2.

Dan Lyons

Skylar Diggins' late mid-range jumper put the Storm up three late in their Game 2 win over the Aces.
Skylar Diggins' late mid-range jumper put the Storm up three late in their Game 2 win over the Aces. / Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images
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For the last six weeks, the Aces have looked close to invincible. Las Vegas entered Tuesday night's first-round playoff game against the Storm riding a 17-game win streak including a dominant 102–77 victory in Game 1 over Seattle.

With the best-of-three series heading to The Emerald City, Skylar Diggins, Nneka Ogwumike and the Storm found the answers that the entire WNBA had been searching for since August 2.

Down 83–81 with just 35 seconds remaining in the game, Ogwumike secured a huge rebound, kicking it up the floor to Diggins who found a streaking Dominique Malonga for a huge and-one to put Seattle up by one. After a Chelsea Gray turnover for Las Vegas, Diggins got to work, isolating Jackie Young and drilling a jumper from just inside the foul line to push the lead to three just just 4.2 seconds left on the clock.

Aces guard Jewell Loyd got a decent look at the buzzer from 27 feet out, but couldn't connect, sealing a series-tying win for Seattle.

Diggins finished with a game-high 26 points on 10-of-20 from the field and led the Storm with seven assists. Ogwumike chipped in 24 points and 10 rebounds while Malonga had 11 points and 10 boards off the bench. Young led the Aces with 25 points, and MVP hopeful A'ja Wilson had 21 points and 13 rebounds.

The series will now return to the desert on Thursday, as Las Vegas will try and avoid a big first-round upset at home. After the Fever picked up their own Game 2 home win over the Dream, both WNBA playoff series in action on Tuesday are now tied at 1–1.

Tip-off of Game 3 between the Aces and Storm is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2 on Thursday.

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Dan Lyons
DAN LYONS

Dan Lyons is a staff writer and editor on Sports Illustrated's Breaking and Trending News team. He joined SI for his second stint in November 2024 after a stint as a senior college football writer at Athlon Sports, and a previous run with SI spanning multiple years as a writer and editor. Outside of sports, you can find Dan at an indie concert venue or movie theater.

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