Breanna Stewart pulled up three feet behind the arc and released a shot that sailed high like a rainbow and splashed perfectly through the net as she backpedaled down court.
The rainbow 3-pointer capped a personal 11-0 run at the start of the fourth quarter and effectively proved to be the difference in the Storm's 93-80 victory over Las Vegas in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals on Friday night in Bradenton, Fla.
Stewart finished with a career-playoff-high 37 points, one shy of the WNBA Finals record, on 15-of-24 shooting. She also had 15 rebounds and four blocks.
The Storm also received stellar performances from its other two stars.
Jewell Loyd scored 28 points on 11-of-17 shooting and Sue Bird tallied a career-high 16 assists, which set a WNBA Finals record.
Epiphanny Prince added 11 points for Seattle, which takes a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series. Game 2 is Sunday.
The Storm trailed 34-33 with 6:30 left in the second quarter and seemingly took over the game with an 18-0 run.
A'ja Wilson snapped a four-minute scoreless drought for Las Vegas with a midrange jumper with two minutes left.
However, Seattle continued to score at will and Loyd capped the first-half scoring for the Storm with a pair of 3-pointers and a 57-40 lead at the break.
Seattle shot 62.9% from the field (22 of 35) in the first half while limiting Las Vegas to 13-of-44 shooting (29.5%).
In her first WNBA Finals appearance, Wilson, the 2020 WNBA MVP, struggled early with her shot while shooting 3 of 12 in the first half. She recovered in the second half to finish with 20 points.
With Wilson scoring eight points in the third, the Aces seized momentum and outscored the Storm 27-12 in the quarter.
Seattle led by 19 points early in the third, but gave it all away while connecting on just 4 of 18 shots and Danielle Robinson tied it 67-67 with a free throw.
Leading 69-67 at the start of the fourth, Stewart scored 11 straight points as the Storm pulled away. She outscored Las Vegas 15-13 in in the final frame.
The Aces received 19 points from Angel McCoughtry while Kaylay McBride had 13, Jackie Young 12 and Robinson 10.
