The first of three WNBA games on the CBS family of networks this weekend was a thriller of historic nature, as the Seattle Storm went on the road and outlasted the Dallas Wings, 109-103, after an electric scoring duel between Jewell Loyd and Arike Ogunbowale.
Loyd knocked down seven 3-pointers and finished with 39 points, five rebounds and five assists, while Ogunbowale hit seven triples of her own en route to 41 points, three assists and three steals. Both players set new career highs, and together they became the first players in WNBA history to score at least 39 points in the same game.
Gold Mamba was turnt today, dropping a career-high 39 PTS, going 7-12 from downtown 😤
— WNBA (@WNBA) June 17, 2023
Today's game marked the 2nd highest scoring performance for a @seattlestorm player, @jewellloyd is only behind Lauren Jackson (47 PTS on 7/24/07) who holds the franchise record#MoreThanGame pic.twitter.com/leB3rt94ZU
Left it all out on the floor 🙌@Arike_O went off for a career-high 41 PTS in a matchup against the Storm and shot an impressive 54.2% from the field and knocked down 7 triples #MoreThanGame pic.twitter.com/SSz922vHXQ
— WNBA (@WNBA) June 17, 2023
The accolades didn't stop there. Here's a quick rundown of seven more fascinating stats from the star showings:
- Loyd and Ogunbowale's 80 combined points are the most by opposing players in a regulation game in WNBA history, breaking the previous record of 78 set by Liz Cambage (53) and Kia Nurse (25)
- Loyd's 39 points are the second-most in Storm franchise history behind Lauren Jackson's 47 in 2007, and the most in a regulation game
- Loyd has now scored 229 points this season, which is the most ever by a Storm player through the first 10 games. Even more impressive is that Loyd has played in just nine of those games
- Loyd is the seventh player in league history with at least 39 points, five rebounds and five assists in a game, and this was the ninth such performance
- Loyd is now averaging a league-leading 25.4 points per game. Only Diana Taurasi in 2006 (25.2) has averaged over 25 points per game for an entire season
- Ogunbowale became the fourth different player from the Wings franchise to score at least 41 points in a game, joining Cambage, Riquna Williams and Deanna Nolan. No other franchise has had as many players reach that mark or as many such games (five)
- Ogunbowale's 41 points are already the third 40-point game by a player this summer, which ties a WNBA record for the most in a single season. There were also three 40-point games in 2015, 2008 and 2006, but it's worth noting that this season is the first time that all three performances have come in regulation
