黑料福利社

While three of top interior defensive players sat on the bench in street clothes, the Storm made it an emphasis to avoid the mistakes that doomed them 48 hours earlier.

鈥淥ur No. 1 focal point defensively tonight is protect the paint in a variety of ways,鈥� coach Sonia Raman said noting Seattle surrendered 50 paints in the paint during a two-point loss against the Connecticut Sun on Wednesday. 鈥淪ome of it is our pick-and-roll coverage. I thought our interior defense was pretty good, but there's a couple things we need to clean up in terms of our post defense.鈥�

During Friday鈥檚 rematch, the Storm exacted a bit of revenge thanks to a trio of superlative performances from Zia Cooke, Flau鈥檍ae Johnson and Natisha Hiedeman and an improved defensive effort that led to a 77-59 victory in front of 9,741 at Climate Pledge Arena.

Cooke finished with a career-high 25 points and five rebounds, while Johnson added a personal-best 17 points on 6-for-10 shooting, seven rebounds and four assists, and Hiedeman added 11 points and five assists.

Playing the second of their four-game homestand, the Storm (2-4) snapped a three-game losing streak and gave first-year coach Sonia Raman her first home win.

鈥淲e just played hard,鈥� Cooke said. 鈥淲e played together. It feels good. It鈥檚 been a long time coming.鈥�

Trailing 21-19 after the first quarter, Seattle took control in the second period while outscoring Connecticut 18-7 to take a 37-28 halftime lead.

Without forward Ezi Magbegor (foot), center Dominique Malonga (concussion protocol) and center Awa Fam, who joined the team and sat out due to rest, Cooke carried the Storm offensively for most of the night.

The 5-foot-9 guard converted 7 of 14 shots, including two three-pointers for her most prolific performance. She was 9 of 10 on free throws.

Diamond Miller led the Sun (1-6) with 13 points while Aaliyah Edwards had 10.

The Storm host the Washington Mystics on Sunday.

This story will be updated.