Seattle Storm's young frontcourt can't stop Aces star A'ja Wilson in loss

Chances are Sonia Raman wouldn't be a first-year WNBA coach in Seattle, and the Storm may not have hit the reset button, if not for their repeated early postseason exits at the hands of the Las Vegas Aces.

After losing in the first round of the playoffs the past two years, the Storm swapped an aging and All-Star-laden roster led by Nneka Ogwumike, Skylar Diggins and Gabby Williams for the fourth youngest team in the WNBA highlighted by second-year standout Dominique Malonga and promising rookies Awa Fam and Flau'jae Johnson.

Facing their Western Conference nemesis who prompted an extreme makeover, Malonga and Fam had a few bright moments in the first game they've started together for the new-look Storm.

Still, the youngest frontcourt pairing in league history was no match against four-time MVP A'ja Wilson who tallied 34 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists to hand the Storm their sixth straight loss - a 101-91 defeat in front of a sellout crowd of 10,261 at ULTRA Arena.

"She can score from everywhere," Malonga said when asked about Wilson, the league's second-leading scorer at 25.1 points per game. "She's just really efficient. She knows what she's doing. She wants to get to a spot and once she's at her spot, it's really hard to stop her.

"You really need to be physical with her and she knows how to draw fouls, so it's just hard to contain her."

Wilson became the fastest player in WNBA history to reach the 6,000-point milestone in 278 games and ranks 19th on the league's all-time scoring list.

Maybe in the near future, the 20-year-old Malonga and 19-year-old Fam will be able to contend with 29-year-old Wilson, but on Monday night they had their hands full against the Aces star who converted 10 of 19 shots, including three three-pointers and sank 11 of 13 free-throw attempts.

"Wilson is a tough cover," Raman said. "She had a great game. I thought we were trying to figure out some of their early actions as we went, especially for Awa and not having ever guarded her before. She was settling in and understanding some of the pins and things that A'ja comes off of and what she is able to do.

"By the end, we were defending a little bit better and trying to do a better job of defending without fouling. She started to get hot from the three and is just a tough cover, but I'm proud of Awa and Dom. They battled and we're just going to continue to see that growth as they go."

Malonga, who is one of three Storm players who played in the playoffs last season, brimmed with confidence considering she posted a couple of double-double performances in the best-of-three series.

The 6-foot-6 center tallied 12 points and 11 rebounds in a Game 1 loss and had 11 points and 10 rebounds in a Game 2 win.

On Monday night, Malonga created an early highlight when she poked the ball away from Wilson to start a fast break in which she outran the Aces and finished the sequence with a transition layup to go up 6-2.

Malonga scored 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting while Wilson had 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting in the first quarter when the Storm led 25-23.

Foul trouble plagued Malonga the rest of the way and when she went to the bench. The Aces outscored the Storm 27-18 in the second quarter for a 50-43 halftime lead.

Seattle's offensive woes continued in the third quarter while tallying just 16 points on 5-for-15 shooting and falling behind 72-59.

Both teams combined for 61 points and 10 three-pointers during an explosive fourth quarter. The Storm pulled within 76-70 early in the period and were down 89-81 when Wilson drained a dagger three to go up 92-81 with 3:49 left.

Jackie Young scored 29 points, NaLyssa Smith had 16 and Chelsea Gray had 12 points and eight assists, including three highlight no-look passes, for the Aces (8-3) who won their fourth straight.

Despite playing just 16½ minutes, Malonga finished with 19 points and five rebounds and Fam had 16 points and three rebounds. Natisha Hiedeman added 14 points, three rebounds and four assists while Johnson had 13 points and six assists.

It was the second-highest-scoring game of the season for the Storm, who shot 44.6% from the field, including 12 three-pointers and a season-high-tying 22 assists.

"It's a little bit weird because we never played together," Fam said when asked about being paired with Malonga. "We (had) maybe one practice or two practices, so it's not a lot. We are in this process of (getting to know) each other. It's very fun because we are looking forward to playing more together.

"We're looking forward to be being a really great duo on the court. So, it's really, really fun. I'm super happy to play with Dom. I think we can be a really great duo, but it's just step-by-step, game-by-game and … day-by-day."

The Storm (3-10), who fell to 0-4 in the Commissioner's Cup race and were eliminated from the in-season tournament, finished a fruitless two-game road trip and return home to host the Los Angeles Sparks on Wednesday.

BOX SCORE

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This story was originally published June 8, 2026 at 11:35 PM.