Seattle Storm win WNBA championship after beating Las Vegas Aces in Finals series

Seattle Storm, featuring emerging Opals star Ezi Magbegor, have won their fourth WNBA title by thrashing Las Vegas Aces 92-59 in Game Three of the Finals to sweep the series in Bradenton, Florida.

Magbegor, who was playing in her WNBA debut season, posted two points, one rebound and one assist for the Storm, who overcame an early nine-point deficit to clinch a comfortable win.

The victory elevates the 21-year-old into the same company as retired Opals great Lauren Jackson, who won two WNBA titles with the Storm.

Finals MVP Breanna Stewart scored 26 points for the Storm against the Aces, while teammate Jewell Lloyd added a 19-point haul.

Teammate Sue Bird, who won her first title 16 years ago, showed off her mastery of the no-look pass to dish out seven assists.

League MVP A'ja Wilson had 18 points and four assists in a losing effort for the Aces.

The best-of-five series marked the end of a season unlike any other in the WNBA, with the league staging all games inside a quarantined campus in Bradenton after the coronavirus outbreak forced weeks of delay.

"Everybody bought in and we didn't know what to expect from one day to the next," said Stewart, who scored 85 points over three games.

"We kind of rolled with the punches and continued to play our game."

The championship was the fourth for 39-year-old Bird, who set a WNBA playoff record for 16 assists in Game One of the Finals after missing the entire 2019 season with a knee injury.

"To recreate it over time, and stay at a high level over time, is definitely something I'm proud of because it hasn't been easy," she said.

"I had surgery [in] May of 2019 and it's been a little over a year.

First-round draft pick Magbegor averaged 6.5 points and 2.5 rebounds in her limited time on court for the Storm in the truncated WNBA season.

Magbegor's Opals teammate Sami Whitcomb was also on the Storm's roster, but watched the finals from quarantine in Sydney after opting to return to Australia to be with her expecting partner.

Whitcomb averaged 8.1 points, 2.3 rebounds and two assists before departing the WNBA bubble in Florida.

Wires