SEATTLE — It didn’t take Seattle Storm guard Jewell Loyd long in Sunday’s season finale against the Los Angeles Sparks to secure the WNBA’s single-season record for total points.
Loyd entered Sunday’s game eight points behind former teammate Breanna Stewart, who had scored nine earlier in the day. Less than four minutes into the Storm’s eventual 91-89 loss, Loyd passed Stewart with a stepback 3-pointer, drawing a Los Angeles timeout and a standing ovation from the Seattle crowd.
“It’s kind of how I say thank you to my trainers back home, my teammates, everybody who kind of supported me on this journey because it wasn’t easy to do what I was doing,” Loyd said of the record. “Quite frankly, no one else was doing it, so it’s pretty cool. Maybe I’ll feel more about it after, but right now, I think it’s me being proud of everybody around me and saying thank you to them.”
Knowing she would come into this season as the Storm’s top offensive option after Stewart signed with the New York Liberty in free agency, Loyd trained harder in the offseason, work that helped her avoid a drop in efficiency…