Awa Fam dazzles in first WNBA start, but Seattle Storm fall to Phoenix Mercury
The affable Awa Fam is too nice to demand playing time, especially after her late arrival due to obligations with her Spanish basketball team that forced her to miss the Storm's first six games.
Still, the standout rookie center who was taken No. 3 overall in last month's draft, boldly predicted it wouldn't take her long to get adjusted to her new team and make a meaningful impact in the WNBA.
"I'm 19 years old. I'm ready to play right now in the W," Fam said at her introductory news conference two weeks ago. "I don't feel tired. It's more excited. This is what I love. I love basketball. … This is a new challenge that I really want."
After four games as a reserve, Fam made her first start and if Wednesday night's performance during a 72-68 loss against the Phoenix Mercury is any indication, then the Storm may have found a budding star for the next decade.
In front of 9,109 at Climate Pledge Arena, Fam was offensively spectacular at times while draining a step-back jumper, a soft baby hook and outracing the defense on a fastbreak layup for a game-high 18 points on 9-for-17 shooting and dishing two assists.
And defensively, the 6-foot-4 center was equally impressive while holding Mercury star forward Alyssa Thomas to nine points, nine rebounds and five assists.
"I'm really, really pleased with Awa tonight," coach Sonia Raman said. "She keeps growing every day. It's really remarkable in this short amount of time how much she's been able to process and take in what we're giving her. The little bits that we're incorporating into what she does and then being able to really quickly transfer it and marry that to her own personal talents and gifts that she has and bringing her game to us.
"She was a really good presence on the defensive end, just her length and her activity. That was a tough assignment with Thomas to start off, and I thought she did a really good job of growing with the game and learning in real time how to guard a player like that who's just such a tremendous talent on the offensive end."
The only thing missing from Fam's dazzling starting debut was a win, which is more of an indictment on the slumping Storm (3-8), who are riding a season-high four-game losing streak and fell to 0-2 in the six-game Commissioner's Cup race.
It was another deflating setback considering the Storm embark on a difficult road trip that starts Saturday against the league-leading Minnesota Lynx (7-2) and finishes with defending WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces (6-3) on Tuesday.
In its previous outing, a 79-56 road loss against the Dallas Wings on Monday, Seattle was held to its fewest points since June 3, 2022.
Raman has been generally pleased with her team's defensive efforts, but she's been unable to boost a sagging offense that ranks next to last in the WNBA in scoring at 75.6 points per game.
"We need to get out and run a little bit more," she said. "We're getting these stops and we're slowing down a little bit just to try to get it right. We need to sort of open things up, put our foot on the gas a little bit more and look to push."
Moving Fam into the starting lineup didn't bolster a Storm offense that shot 38.4% from the field, 27.3% on three-pointers and attempted just five free throws while the Mercury sank 21 of 27 foul shots.
Seattle trailed 21-15 after the first quarter and used a 10-2 run late in the second period to trim its deficit to 36-33 at halftime.
Momentum shifted toward the Storm in the third quarter when Natisha Hiedeman tallied 10 of her 15 points and Fam had eight while Seattle outscored Phoenix 22-16.
Hiedeman thrilled the crowd with a move that sent Mercury forward Noeme Brochant falling to the floor while the Storm guard drained a three-pointer to tie the score at 44 points apiece.
On the next offensive trip, Hiedeman drained another three-pointer that gave Seattle its first lead at 47-46 with 5:02 left in the period.
Early in the fourth quarter, Jordan Horston drilled a three-pointer that put the Storm up 58-52 early before the Mercury regained control and outscored them 20-10 the rest of the way.
Seattle, which trailed 68-61 with 2:39 left, made one last push and closed to 70-68 after Katie Lou Samuelson's three-pointer with 7.1 seconds remaining. Soon after, forward Kahleah Copper (16 points) hit two free throws to seal the win for the Mercury.
Natasha Mack had 16 points and 10 rebounds while Monique Akoa Makani had 12 points and DeWanna Bonner added 10 points off the bench for the Mercury (3-8), who snapped a six-game losing streak.
"These are great reps," Raman said noting late-game heroics from rookie guard Flau'jae Johnson and Fam. "There's no substitute for the game experience and end-of-game situations. If you can execute and you can pull it off, it's obviously going to feel really good. If you come up short the way those two, and really all of our players are on the way they're wired, they're going to feel that, and they're going to remember that, and it's going to help them down the road.
"Either way, we're going to learn from every game that we play."
BOX SCORE
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This story was originally published June 3, 2026 at 11:42 PM.