SEATTLE

On the day Breanna Stewart became the newly minted WNBA MVP, a key part of her supporting cast came through with a couple of big shots the Seattle Storm needed in the closing minutes.

Stewart scored 19 of her 28 points in the first half, Jewell Loyd added 23 — including Seattle’s final seven points — and the Storm held on to beat the Phoenix Mercury 91-87 on Sunday in Game 1 of their WNBA semifinal series.

Stewart was the star for the first 20 minutes, but it was Loyd that hit the shots Seattle needed to hold off Phoenix’s fourth-quarter rally.

“Anyone can score, anyone can get it going and tonight you had a glimpse of everyone stepping up and getting it going for us,” Loyd said.

After posting the best record in the league during the regular season, Seattle got a week of rest before opening the semifinals at home. For the most part there was no rust from the long layoff, but Phoenix made the final minutes uncomfortable after cutting a 16-point deficit to two.

Loyd came up with a pair of clutch baskets, including a 15-footer with 1 minute left to beat the shot clock and pushed Seattle’s lead to four. It came on a second-chance opportunity after Stewart chased down an offensive rebound that led to Loyd’s key shot.

“We didn’t stop. We didn’t freeze when things got tight,” Stewart said. “Playing Phoenix you always know they’re in the game no matter what, whether it’s a two-point game or a 10-point game they have an opportunity to come back and win. We made some hustle plays that gave us multiple possessions.”

DeWanna Bonner led Phoenix with 27 points and 13 rebounds, and Diana Taurasi added 25 points. But the third of Phoenix’s big three stars, Brittney Griner, was held to 13 points and battled foul trouble throughout.

Phoenix opened the playoff with a win at home over Dallas before traveling cross country to knock out Connecticut, and taking another cross country trip to Seattle to open the semifinals. If there was any fatigue, Phoenix didn’t show it in the fourth quarter, outscoring Seattle 20- 12 and making for a tense final minute.

“We just showed a lot of fight and poise, which we probably didn’t see much of that throughout that game like we needed, starting with me,” Taurasi said.

Natasha Howard added 20 points and Sue Bird had 10 points and 10 assists for Seattle. The Storm finished with 13 3-pointers, 10 in the first half.

Seattle led by 70-54 after Stewart’s sixth 3-pointer midway through the third quarter, but Phoenix had a fourth-quarter surge waiting. Stewart scored on the low block with 4:57 left to push Seattle’s lead back to 10. Phoenix responded with a 13-5 surge led by Taurasi. She followed up a deep 3-pointer with a pass to a cutting Bonner for a basket. Stewart missed twice near the basket on Seattle’s next possession and Griner’s second-chance basket with 1:40 remaining pulled the Mercury within 89-87.

Alysha Clark missed an open 3 for Seattle, but Stewart’s offensive rebound led to Loyd’s 15-footer that barely beat the shot clock to push Seattle’s lead to four.

Washington 87, Atlanta 84

ATLANTA (AP) — The Washington Mystics decided to keep Elena Delle Donne in the post and see how the Atlanta Dream would adjust.

It worked so well that the Mystics might just stay with the same approach all series.

Delle Donne had 32 points and 13 rebounds, Ariel Atkins added 15 points and the Mystics beat the Dream 87-84 in the first game of a best-of-five WNBA semifinal on Sunday.

The Mystics hit all 20 of their freethrow attempts.

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