Stewart keys Storm

SEATTLE — A lot of Breanna Stewart in the closing minutes and one big defensive stop in the final seconds has the Seattle Storm on the cusp of a third WNBA title.

Stewart scored nine of her 25 points in the fourth quarter, Sue Bird came up with a key defensive play in the final 10 seconds, and the Storm held off the Washington Mystics 75-73 on Sunday to take a 2-0 lead in the WNBA Finals.

Seattle will head to Washington for Game 3 on Wednesday night needing only a split back east to claim the third title in franchise history. Since the WNBA went to a best-offive format for the Finals in 2005, no team has lost the first two games and fought back to force a Game 5.

“It came down to a stop, and I thought we did a really good job,” Seattle coach Dan Hughes said. “This is a team that has grown defensively. All year, we have watched the defensive numbers get better and better and better and better and better I thought it was quite poetic that some of these games were going to come down to a stop.”

Stewart went nearly 18 minutes of game time without scoring, but was responsible for six of Seattle's final seven points as the Storm held off Washington's late rally.

The league MVP got her touches in the closing minutes, while Washington didn't make sure star Elena Delle Donne got her opportunities. Delle Donne finished with 17 points but was scoreless in the fourth quarter and took just one shot.

Delle Donne scored on a three-point play late in the third quarter. It was her final points.

“I think we fell in love too much with me getting the ball on the block. I'm more than just a back-tothe-basket type of player. Playing in space opens up my teammates, also opens myself up,” Delle Donne said. “We've got to find a way to not become onedimensional and just try to force it in.”

NOTE: A'ja Wilson capped her stellar year with WNBA Rookie of the Year honors.

The No. 1 pick in the draft this past April averaged 20.7 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.7 blocks for Las Vegas. It's the secondhighest scoring average for a rookie in league history, trailing only Seimone Augustus' 21.9 points in 2006.

The former South Carolina star received all 39 votes from a national media panel.

Elaine Thompson / Associated Press The Storm’s Breanna Stewart (25 points) shoots over the Mystics’ Elena Delle Donne in the second half of Game 2 of the WNBA finals Sunday in Seattle.