NEW YORK -- Seattle's Breanna Stewart is the WNBA rookie of the year.
The league announced Thursday that Stewart received 38 of the 39 votes from a national media panel. San Antonio's Moriah Jefferson got the other vote.
"It's a tremendous honor to be able to come into the league and make a big impact like I did in my rookie season," Stewart said. "It's all you can ask for."
The No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 draft out of Connecticut, Stewart averaged 18.3 points, 9.3 rebounds and 1.9 blocks, becoming the sixth player in league history to reach those averages in the same season. She helped the Seattle Storm advance to the playoffs for the first time since 2013.
"What I want to do next is build Seattle and help the Storm get better," Stewart said. "We got to the playoffs this year and we want to get back there and get better; we're trying to win championships here, too."
It's the first time in the league's 20-year history the same team had back-to-back winners. Seattle's Jewell Loyd was the rookie of the year in 2015.
The 6-foot-4 Stewart scored in double figures 31 times and had 12 double-doubles. She had a season-high 38 points in a win against Atlanta on July 10. She swept the league's rookie of the month honors this season.
WNBA playoffs
Lynx 113, Mercury 95
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Maya Moore scored 31 points, including 15 in the second quarter, as the Minnesota Lynx opened their WNBA title defense with a win over the Phoenix Mercury in the first game of the WNBA semifinals on Wednesday night.
Lindsay Whalen added 19 points and seven assists for top-seed Minnesota, which has beaten Phoenix in all four meetings this season. Center Sylvia Fowles scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as the Lynx broke the WNBA record for points in a regulation playoff game.
Diana Taurasi scored 25 points for the Mercury, who won the matchup between the two teams in 2014 on the way to their own championship. Brittney Griner added 16 points for Phoenix but was held to just two rebounds.
Game 2 of the best-of-five series is tonight.
Sparks 95, Sky 75
LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Candace Parker scored 19 of her 30 points in the first half, Nneka Ogwumike added 27, and the Sparks beat the Sky.
Two-time WNBA MVP Parker had nine rebounds and newly crowned MVP Ogwumike had 10 rebounds and six assists for the Sparks, who were playing their first game in 12 days after early-round byes in the revamped playoffs. The game was at the Pyramid on the Long Beach State campus, 24 miles from downtown Los Angeles.
The Sky was missing injured Elena Delle Donne and her team-leading averages of 21.5 points and 7.0 rebounds. In her absence, the offensive load was spread among four players. Jamierra Faulkner scored a leading 13 points off the bench. Cappie Pondexter added 12, Tamera Young had 11 and Courtney Vandersloot 10.
Sports on 09/30/2016