Seattle Storm scuffle down stretch in loss to Washington Mystics

Once again, Natisha Hiedeman put the Storm on her shoulders and nearly carried them to a rare road win while scoring a career-high 31 points.

The sweet-shooting guard delivered a brilliant offensive performance while scorching the Washington Mystics, connecting on 14 of 24 shot attempts and accounting for nearly half of Seattle's field goals.

Still, the Storm couldn't hold their lead in the fourth quarter and lost 84-79 Sunday at CareFirst Arena.

"I have to go look at the tape and see what was going on," said Hiedeman, who had three rebounds, three assists and four turnovers. "But I'm sure turning the ball over was a huge part of it."

Certainly, the Storm didn't help their cause while committing 20 turnovers that led to 24 points.

They also committed far too many fouls, particularly newly selected WNBA All-Star center Dominique Malonga, who played just 22 minutes due to foul trouble.

Without their 6-foot-6 sensation for long stretches, the Storm were unable to slow down Mystics center Shakira Austin, who pummeled them inside with 27 points on 10-for-18 shooting.

"I don't have a lot of positive things to say right now," said Malonga, who finished with 10 points, 15 rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks. "I need to be able to stay on the floor. I need to be able to just be clean with my game overall, especially when it comes down to crunchtime."

And speaking of crunchtime, last-minute execution has been a problem all season for the Storm, who are 1-7 in clutch games. Sunday was no different.

Thanks to Hiedeman's 11 points in the first quarter and 18 at halftime, Seattle led 45-40 at the break.

"Just being aggressive," said Hiedeman, when asked about her offensive mindset. "Taking what's there. Trying to be in a flow state and just stay there. But I definitely just got to do a better job taking care of the ball for sure."

The Storm stretched their lead to 61-52 late in the third quarter, but couldn't pull away from the Mystics, who cut their deficit to 68-64 heading into the fourth.

And that's when everything changed.

The Storm were outscored 20-11 in the fourth quarter while converting 4 of 14 field goal attempts and committing nine turnovers that led to 10 points for the Mystics, who made 8 of 16 shots and had two turnovers.

"I actually thought we got a lot of really good looks, point blank and right at the rim," coach Sonia Raman said. "So, for the most part, pretty pleased with that. We held them to 20 in that quarter. Would have liked to have held them to a little bit less, but those shots if they had fallen, it might have been a little bit of a different story.

"I thought we were right there and just couldn't get over the hump."

It's a familiar refrain for the Storm (6-19), who are 2-11 on the road and 0-7 in games decided by five points or fewer.

This time the game slipped away in the final six minutes after Flau'jae Johnson's steal and pass to Hiedeman for a highlight fast-break layup that gave Seattle a 74-73 lead.

Austin answered with a three-pointer and layup that put the Mystics up for good in front of a sellout crowd of 4,200.

The Storm trailed 82-79 in the final minute and had a chance to tie before guard Jade Melbourne threw an ill-advised cross-court pass that was intercepted by Sonia Citron.

Moments later, Citron, who is making her second trip to the WNBA All-Star Game and finished with 19 points, connected on a couple free throws with 17 seconds left that capped the scoring.

Kiki Iriafen had 12 points and 13 rebounds, and Lauren Betts chipped in 12 points off the bench for the Mystics (11-10), who split a couple of games in Seattle in May and won the regular-season series 2-1.

The Storm's five-game road trip continues to Chicago for their first matchup this season against the Sky (7-15) at 9 a.m. PT Wednesday.

Note

- Forward Ezi Magbegor suffered a facial fracture during Thursday's 89-78 loss against the Atlanta Dream and will be "reevaluated in the next couple of weeks," Raman said.

Magbegor, who missed the first 20 games of the season due to a right foot injury, is averaging 3.5 points and 4.0 rebounds in four games as a reserve.

BOX SCORE

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This story was originally published July 12, 2026 at 4:49 PM.