Gorham native Mackenzie Holmes had a breakthrough game for the WNBA’s Seattle Storm in Wednesday night’s 80-78 loss to the Connecticut Sun at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.
Holmes, in her second year with the Storm, came off the bench to set career-highs in minutes played with 26, points with 18 and blocks with two and equalled her career-high in rebounds with six.
She shot 6-for-8 from the floor including hitting her only 3-point attempt and was a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line. The 25-year-old Holmes also had a steal and an assist.
She had 14 points, four rebounds and both blocks in the first half.
Holmes had played just a combined 15 minutes in the Storm’s previous two games after playing a previous career-high of 23 minutes in the second game of the season, an 89-82 victory over Connecticut.
She had five points, six rebounds, two assists and one block in that contest.
Through the Storm’s first five games, she is averaging 5.8 points and 4 rebounds over 14.8 minutes of playing time. She has shot 61.1% from the floor. She has made all of her free throw attempts.
The 2019 Maine schoolgirl Gatorade Player of the Year and a four-time Bangor Daily News All-Maine Schoolgirl Team selection appeared in only 10 games for the Storm a year ago and averaged just 5.8 minutes of playing time.
But she had a very productive offseason playing in Australia’s top pro league for the Geelong Venom. She was the league’s second-leading scorer with 21.8 points per game and she was number three in rebounding at 9.6 per contest.
She also played in four playoff games for the Henan Phoenix in China’s top professional league and averaged 8.5 points and 7.3 rebounds in 15 minutes of playing time.
Holmes was a multi-time All-American at Indiana University and is the program’s all-time leader in scoring (2,530 points), field goals (1,043), field goal shooting percentage (63.9) and wins (123).
In high school, she led Gorham High to back-to-back state AA championships in 2017 and 2018.
Holmes, who earns a reported $277,500 a year with the Storm, was selected in the third round of the WNBA draft by the Storm but missed the 2024-25 season due to knee surgery.
The Storm will again host the Sun at 10 p.m. Friday.
