It’s a thankful Thursday night in the W, and we have two WNBA games scheduled featuring some of the brightest stars in the league! The Seattle Storm will face the Indiana Fever for the second time this season, and the Chicago Sky will face off against the Los Angeles Sparks.
We once again have a slate featuring Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Cameron Brink, but Thursday, we’ll look to take a veteran forward who’s in a great bounceback spot.
The Seattle Storm are starting to find their rhythm with their new core. Seattle is on a high, riding a three-game win streak that kicked off with a nail-biting 2-point victory against the same Fever team they’re up against here. On the flip side, the Fever are still grappling, managing to secure just one win out of their eight games this season.
While the Storm continue to build their team chemistry and identity, there’s no doubt that Nneka Ogwumike’s offense will be a crucial contribution to their success. Nneka is averaging 19 PPG to start the year and tallied 22 points against the Fever in their first head-to-head this season. She’s had a great history against the Fever, scoring at least 20 points in six straight games against them. Thursday, we’ll look for her to continue exploiting this matchup like we’ve seen opposing forwards do all season. Indiana has allowed an opposing forward to score at least 20 points in six of their eight games, the only two games when they held an opponent under both games against the LA Sparks.
Ogwumike has done her scoring damage in the paint this season, averaging 12.8 points in the paint per game. Though the Storm won their last match, Ogwumike took a season-low five shot attempts. Thursday, I look for Seattle to get Ogwumike back on track offensively and give her plenty of opportunities against a short-handed and young Fever team.
Nneka Ogwumike over 18.5 points (-140, DraftKings Sportsbook)