WNBA: Horston, Magbegor have been just as reliable as Storm’s veterans

The Seattle Storm (16-8) were not at their best last Sunday, but still managed to pull off a win over the Atlanta Dream (7-16), thanks in large part to the efforts of their two youngest starters.

Jordan Horston and Ezi Magbegor, aged 23 and 24, respectively, were terrific in Seattle’s 81-70 victory, combining to score 34 points on a highly efficient 16-for-22 shooting from the field. The duo also racked up five offensive rebounds, four steals and five blocked shots, thoroughly outplaying their individual matchups in every area the Storm have been relying on them for.

On a team with elite offensive talents such as Jewell Loyd, Nneka Ogwumike, and Skylar Diggins-Smith, Horston and Magbegor’s work on the other end of the court has been crucial to Seattle’s success. They’ve often sacrificed their own offensive output, deferring to the team’s stars while bearing the burden of its most difficult defensive assignments. The Storm currently rank third in the WNBA in defensive rating (93.6 points allowed per 100 possessions) and opponents’ turnover rate (20.2 percent), and if those numbers hold for the rest of the season, both Horston and Magbegor are sure to get heavy consideration for the WNBA’s All-Defense teams.

On Sunday, however, the Storm’s young duo showed that they’re also capable of stepping up offensively. Though Seattle’s veterans were uncharacteristically inefficient and Diggins-Smith was forced to exit early due to injury, Horston and Magbegor picked up the slack, particularly during a late fourth-quarter run that put the game out of reach after Atlanta had kept things close most of the way.

“They’re both playing with a lot of confidence. When they’re able to give us some extra lift on the offensive end, that’s amazing because we always talk about their defensive tenacity and their athleticism,” said Storm head coach Noelle Quinn after the game. “But when they’re playing efficiently on the offensive end, it’s great for us.”

For Magbegor, that isn’t new. Last season, she averaged a career-high 13.8 points on 51.3 percent shooting while playing in all 40 games, and has put up similar offensive numbers thus far in 2024.

Horston, on the other hand, has made multiple noticeable improvements in her second season as a pro. Whereas she often struggled with her own pace of play as a rookie, she’s letting the game come to her now, resulting in a considerable jump in scoring efficiency: 48.4 percent shooting from the field, up from 36.7 percent in 2023. The talented wing has always been capable of stuffing the stat sheet—her collegiate career at Tennessee was a statistically productive one—but she’s taken a less-is-more approach as a member of the Storm, combining her natural athletic gifts with her tenacity on defense to fuel her team.

“She’s growing in a lot of ways,” Quinn said of Horston. “It’s not always going to be perfect, but what I really like to see is the confidence she plays with, and her next-play mentality is improving … that shows a lot of maturity.”

“We know who Jordan is,” added Magbegor. “She’s athletic and she likes to run. When she’s running, she’s scanning the floor and looking to kick it ahead. It ignites us.”

For now, Horston and Magbegor can stick to their roles of stoppers and defensive playmakers. The core of Loyd, Ogwumike, and Diggins-Smith is enough to carry the team on most nights, and how well the trio plays during the playoffs will determine how far the Storm get in their quest for a fifth championship.

There will come a time, however, when Seattle’s youngsters will be asked to take over and lead the franchise. Their stellar play on Sunday provided a brief glimpse into that future, and if the Storm’s coaches are correct in their assessments, the team will be in good hands.