The 2004 WNBA Finals was the championship

series Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used in ...

of the

2004 WNBA season The 2004 WNBA Season was the Women's National Basketball Association's eighth season. The league had one fewer team than in 2003 as the Cleveland Rockers folded after the 2003 season. The season ended with the Seattle Storm winning their first WNB ...

, and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. The

Seattle Storm The Seattle Storm are an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The Storm competes in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was founded by Ginger Ackerl ...

, second-seeded champions of the Western Conference, defeated the

Connecticut Sun The Connecticut Sun are an American professional basketball team based in Uncasville, Connecticut that competes in the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was established ...

, top-seeded champions of the Eastern Conference, two games to one in a best-of-three series. This was Seattle's first title. The Storm made their first appearance in the Finals in franchise history. The Sun made their first appearance in the Finals in franchise history. Going into the series, neither team had won a WNBA championship. The

Houston Comets The Houston Comets were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Houston. Formed in 1997, the team was one of the original eight WNBA teams and won the first four championships of the league's existence. They are one of two ...

hold the record with four championships won. The Storm had a 20–14 record (.588), good enough to receive home-court advantage over the Sun (18–16). The 2004 Finals was the last time two teams had entered the series without having participated in them before.

Road to the finals

Regular season series

The Sun and the Storm split the regular season series:

Game summaries

All times listed below are

Eastern Daylight Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small por ...

Game 1

Katie Douglas and the

took care of business at home to open the

WNBA Finals The WNBA Finals are the championship series of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the conclusion of the league's postseason each fall. The series was named the WNBA Championship until 2002. Starting 2016 Verizon is the officia ...

. Douglas overcame an early ankle injury to score 18 points as the Sun held on for a 68–64 victory over the

, taking a 1–0 lead in the best-of-three championship series. The win was Connecticut's fifth straight after opening the postseason with a loss. Douglas, who suffered a minor ankle sprain in the first half, nailed three 3-pointers and hit a pair of free throws in the closing seconds to finish the scoring.

Wendy Palmer Wendy Palmer (born August 12, 1974) is a former professional basketball player in the WNBA, and former head coach of the UNCG women's basketball team. Her primary position was forward. High school Born in Timberlake, North Carolina, Palmer at ...

had 16 points and

Lindsay Whalen Lindsay Marie Whalen (born May 9, 1982) is the head coach of the University of Minnesota's women's basketball team. She began her professional career as a point guard for the Connecticut Sun of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) ...

chipped in 11 and a franchise playoff-record nine assists for the Sun, who used a 14-7 run to close the first half to grab a 33-29 lead at intermission. Connecticut built its edge to 63-47 on a bucket by

Asjha Jones Asjha Takera Jones (born August 1, 1980) is a former American professional women's basketball power forward and coach who is now on the staff of the Portland Trail Blazers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). In 2019, she became the fir ...

with 7:20 remaining and survived a late 16–5 run by the Storm to get a win in its WNBA Finals debut.

Betty Lennox Betty Bernice Lennox (born December 4, 1976) is an American retired professional basketball player. She played for the Minnesota Lynx, Miami Sol, Cleveland Rockers, Seattle Storm, Atlanta Dream, Los Angeles Sparks and Tulsa Shock in the Women' ...

scored 17 points and

Lauren Jackson Lauren Elizabeth Jackson (born 11 May 1981) is an Australian professional basketball player. The daughter of two national basketball team players, Jackson was awarded a scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in 1997, when she ...

had 16 for Seattle. Lennox nailed a 3-pointer with 17 seconds remaining to pull the Storm to within two points, but they failed to convert their final three shots before the final buzzer.

Game 2

won her shootout with

Nykesha Sales Nykesha Simone Sales (born May 10, 1976) is an American assistant coach at the University of Georgia. She is a former professional basketball player in the WNBA, as well as playing in the Bosnian league for the ZKK Mladi Krajisnik club. Her prim ...

and extended the WNBA Finals to a decisive game. Lennox scored 27 points as the

survived a record-setting performance by Sales and held on for a 67–65 victory over the

that evened the

at one game each. Lennox made 11-of-16 shots. She scored 16 points in the second half, when the Sun - who never led - erased a 13-point deficit and tied the game. Sales, who set a WNBA Finals record with 32 points, sank a jumper that evened it, 57–57, with 5:20 to go. Lennox answered with four points in a 6–0 burst that gave the Storm the lead for good. Katie Douglas made a 3-pointer to halve the deficit before Lennox made a jumper at the 1:41 mark. Sales had a steal and layup, but Lennox's foul line jumper pushed the lead to 67-62 with 51 seconds remaining. Sales made a 3-pointer before Lennox missed a jumper and Connecticut forced a jump ball. The Sun gained possession with 3.1 seconds left and ran a play for Sales, who hit the side of the backboard with a potential game-winning 3-pointer from the right corner.

had 15 points and 11 rebounds and

Sue Bird Suzanne Brigit Bird (born October 16, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player who played her entire career with the Seattle Storm of the Women's National Basketball Association ( WNBA) Bird was drafted by the Storm first over ...

scored 10 points for the Storm, who improved to 4–0 at home in the postseason. They drew 17,072 to

KeyArena Climate Pledge Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is located north of Downtown Seattle in the entertainment complex known as Seattle Center, the site of the 1962 World's Fair, for which it was or ...

for this one. Douglas scored 14 points for the Sun, who had won five straight playoff games but stumbled early in this one. They fell behind, 22–10, midway through the first half and trailed, 35–30, at halftime.

Game 3

The

got to the

behind stars

and

. They won their first title behind a player picked off the scrap heap.

scored 16 of her 23 points in the second half as the Storm won the WNBA championship with a 74–60 triumph over the

in the decisive third game. Acquired in the dispersal draft from the defunct

Cleveland Rockers The Cleveland Rockers were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Cleveland, that played from 1997 until 2003. The Rockers were one of the original eight franchises of the WNBA, which started in 1997. The owner was Gordon Gu ...

, Lennox outshined Jackson, acknowledged as the best player in the world, and Bird, a star point guard. Lennox averaged 22.3 points in the series to earn

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

honors. Jackson collected 13 points and seven rebounds while Bird added eight - all in the second half - and six assists. Playing in front of their second straight sellout crowd of 17,072, the Storm improved to a perfect 5-0 at

in the postseason. They won their last two series after losing the opener on the road. After

hit two free throws to cut Seattle's lead to 51–46 with 13:05 left, the Storm went on a 13–2 run capped by Lennox's driving layup with 6:15 to go. Led by center Kamila Vodichkova, who scored 12 of her 14 points in the opening half, Seattle never trailed, opening a 26–14 lead with 10:17 left. Connecticut answered with a 15–3 surge over the next seven minutes to tie the game. But the Sun went cold in the second half, missing 18 of 23 shots. Shooting guard Katie Douglas characterized the team's poor shooting, finishing 0-of-11 from the floor. She scored just six points after averaging 16 in the first two games. Seattle coach

Anne Donovan Anne Theresa Donovan (November 1, 1961 – June 13, 2018) was an American women's basketball player and coach. From 2013 to 2015, she was the head coach of the Connecticut Sun. In her playing career, Donovan won a national championship with Ol ...

made history by becoming the first female coach to guide a team to the WNBA title.

Awards

*2004 WNBA Champion:

* Finals MVP:

Rosters

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External links

{{NBA on ABC

Finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

Connecticut Sun Seattle Storm 2004 in sports in Connecticut 2004 in sports in Washington (state) Women's National Basketball Association Finals Sports competitions in Seattle Sports competitions in Connecticut 2004 in Seattle October 2004 sports events in the United States