Storm vs. Sun: Zia Cooke's Career-High 25 Off the Bench Sends Seattle Past Connecticut 77-59

In the second quarter on Friday night, Zia Cooke scored eight points. The entire Connecticut Sun scored seven. You could stop reading right there and have a pretty good idea of how this one went, but it got more fun.

Cooke came off the bench for a career-high 25, rookie Flau'jae Johnson set season bests in points, rebounds and assists, and the Seattle Storm beat the Sun 77-59 at Climate Pledge Arena, two nights after Connecticut had beaten them in the same building in the final seconds.

From an 8-0 Hole to a Seven-Point Quarter

It didn't start like a revenge game. Connecticut opened on an 8-0 run, Seattle looked like a team still carrying around Wednesday's loss, and the Sun led 21-19 after one quarter.

Then the second quarter happened. The Sun managed just seven points in the period, and Cooke personally outscored them, part of the 16 she had by halftime. Seattle won the quarter 18-7 to take a 37-28 lead into the locker room, and the damage was not done. A 12-0 run that began with 2:42 left in the half and carried into the third turned a one-point game into a 41-28 lead, leaving Connecticut stuck on 28 for nearly four minutes of game time.

The Storm stretched it to 16 at 53-37 in the third before the Sun got one last wind. Connecticut scored nine straight across the quarter break, and a 3 to open the fourth made it 53-46. Suddenly a game that had looked over was a seven-point affair with plenty of time left.

Seattle killed that idea fast. A Cooke free throw and a Johnson 3 rebuilt the cushion, and the margin stayed in double digits the rest of the way. An 11-0 run then made it 70-49 with 4:39 to go, a 21-point lead that was as big as it would get. Diamond Miller scored six of Connecticut's last 10 points to trim the final margin, and Cooke closed the night with two free throws at the 17-second mark.

Cooke Had the Night of Her Career

The career high came on 7-of-14 shooting, 2-of-6 from 3 and 9-of-10 at the line, with five rebounds in just 24 minutes. She finished plus-18 and spent most of her time making Connecticut's defense look like it had missed the scouting report. Reserves aren't supposed to be the best player in the building. Nobody told her.

Johnson, the No. 8 pick in the recent draft, was just as impressive in a different way. Her 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists were all season highs, and she got them on 7-of-12 shooting, 3-of-6 from deep. She also blocked three shots. The five turnovers are the only thing keeping that line from being spotless, and for a rookie, that's a trade you make every time.

Natisha Hiedeman added 11 with six assists, and Stefanie Dolson scored only five but finished with four assists and a game-best plus-24, which suggests the Storm figured something out when she was out there.

Seattle needed all of it, because the frontcourt is held together with tape right now. Dominique Malonga sat for a third straight game in the concussion protocol, Ezi Magbegor hasn't played yet this season, and No. 3 pick Awa Fam had only just landed from Spain. So the Storm signed Joyner Holmes that same day, and in 15 minutes she gave them five rebounds, three blocks and two points. That's quite a first shift for someone who probably wasn't sure where the locker room was.

Connecticut got 13 from Miller, seven of them at the line, and 10 from Aaliyah Edwards. Not much else came easily. Charlisse Leger-Walker shot 2-of-9, Kennedy Burke went 3-of-9, and Saniya Rivers went 1-of-6. The Sun were also missing Brittney Griner for a fourth straight game with a rib injury. Aneesah Morrow scored seven but finished minus-25 in 18 minutes.

The Turning Point Was That Second Quarter

Nobody will confuse a 21-point first quarter for the Sun's biggest problem, but that's the thing: they had 21 points after 10 minutes and 28 after 20. The offense simply stopped: seven points in the second quarter, then almost four minutes without a point around halftime. While that was happening, Cooke kept going to work at the other end.

For the game, Connecticut shot 37 percent and went 4-of-17 from 3. The Sun had just 15 assists, and they were outscored in the paint 38-32. Seattle's seven blocks, with three each from Johnson and Joyner Holmes, told the story of a team that may have been short-handed up front but was not short on effort. The ball moved, too, with 22 assists on 28 baskets, and the Storm won the boards 38-33 despite all those missing bigs.

The Numbers That Matter

• 18-7: Seattle's second-quarter margin, the night's defining stretch.
• 8-7: Cooke vs. the entire Sun roster in that same quarter.
• 22-15: Assists, Storm.
• 4-of-17: Connecticut from 3.
• 7-3: Blocks, Seattle, on a night it was thin up front.

Where Everybody Stands

Seattle improves to 2-4 and 1-2 at home, ending a three-game skid and taking a 2-1 edge in the season series after an 89-82 win in Connecticut early in the year. The Storm stay home for a two-game set with Washington beginning on Sunday.

Connecticut drops to 1-6 and 1-3 on the road. Its only win this season is still that Wednesday stunner. The Sun head to Golden State on Monday for the third stop of a five-game trip out west.

The Director's Cut

Wednesday's loss was the theatrical release: tense, heartbreaking, a bad ending for the home crowd. Friday was the director's cut. Same teams, same arena, two nights later, except this time somebody fixed the third act and gave a bench player the lead role. Cooke had waited a while for a night like this one. Seattle had waited three games. Both of them got it at once.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game context as reported by the Associated Press.