RBS #91 Jewell Loyd scores a season-high 34 points as Storm cool off Caitlin Clark and Fever 89-77

RBS #91
Jewell Loyd scores a season-high 34 points as Storm cool off Caitlin Clark and Fever 89-77

SEATTLE (AP) — Jewell Loyd scored 23 of her season-high 34 points in the first half and played most of the game with a swollen left eye, and the Seattle Storm held Caitlin Clark to just three points in the second half of an 89-77 win over the Indiana Fever on Thursday night.

Seattle (11-6) improved to 2-0 in the beginning stages of a WNBA-record nine-game homestand that won’t see the Storm head on the road again until mid-July.

Clark finished with 15 points and seven assists, playing before another sold-out crowd with many fans wearing various No. 22 jerseys with her name across the back.

But it was Loyd who put on the show.

“We knew it was coming and when it comes, it comes in a storm. In a barrage. We know she can rattle off points,” Seattle coach Noelle Quinn said.

Loyd made five 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes and her 23 first-half points were the second-most by any player in the WNBA this season. She also missed nearly five minutes of the half after getting inadvertently hit around the left eye late in the first quarter.