Alanna Smith scored 16 of her career-high 22 points in the first half, Napheesa Collier scored seven of her 20 points during a decisive fourth-quarter run, and the Minnesota Lynx beat the Storm 83-70 on Tuesday night, spoiling the Seattle debuts of Skylar Diggins-Smith and Nneka Ogwumike.

Smith carried the Lynx in the first half before Collier took over late, and Minnesota leaned on its defense to frustrate the Storm into a difficult night at the offensive end. Seattle’s Jewell Loyd, last year’s leading scorer in the WNBA at 24.7 points, was held to 10 points on 3-of-19 shooting.

“Seattle is a good team and I feel like we really shut them down in the second half, especially,” Collier said. “Just covering down for each other, really working as a unit and when we’re doing that it’s really fun.”

The opener was supposed to be the unveiling of the new-look Storm after they finished with the second-worst record in the league at 11-29 last season following the departure of Breanna Stewart in free agency and the retirement of Sue Bird.

Bird, who recently became part of Seattle’s ownership group, was in her courtside seat for the opener to see how Diggins-Smith and Ogwumike meshed with their new team. Diggins-Smith returned to the floor after missing the 2023 season while on maternity leave and Ogwumike left behind Southern California for the first time in her WNBA career to sign with Seattle after spending her first 12 seasons with the Los Angeles Sparks.

It was a shaky debut.

“This is a new team,” Seattle coach Noelle Quinn said. “And though, yes, we have excellent players on this roster, it takes time. … What it showed is we have a lot of work to do and that will come as we build through games and the adversity that will come. We’ll be better.”

Ogwumike finished with 20 points and nine rebounds, and Diggins-Smith added 10 points. But Seattle was just 1 of 9 on 3s and committed 17 turnovers.

“They came out more aggressive in that fourth quarter in my opinion. That’s what it felt like at least,” Ogwumike said. “We were doing a lot of figuring out how to change our schemes and I think it’s more about just coming out and doing it aggressively the first time.”

Minnesota led 63-60 going to the fourth quarter, and outscored Seattle 20-10 in the final frame. Collier scored seven straight early in the fourth quarter as Minnesota stretched its lead to 74-62, and Kayla McBride’s 3-pointer from the wing gave the Lynx a 15-point lead with 4:12 remaining.

Smith, who signed a two-year contract after spending last season in Chicago, had reached the 20-point mark only once previously in her career.

“It was a fun first outing,” Smith said.

Seattle didn’t debut its entire new look as rookie Nika Mühl was held out due to pending visa approval. Mühl was the 14th overall pick in the second round of the WNBA draft last month and Seattle created a spot on its roster by trading Jade Melbourne to Washington in exchange for a future draft pick.

The teams will run it back on Friday night in Minnesota for the Lynx’s home opener.

The man King County prosecutors said killed Chef Cory Bellett at the Capitol Hill Link light rail station over the weekend had his first court appearance Tuesday afternoon.

The 26-year-old opted not to attend the hearing. A defense attorney was there instead.

Prosecutors were seeking probable cause for the charges of murder in the second degree with a deadly weapon enhancement and witness tampering.

According to court documents, Bellett brushed against the suspect as he was descending an escalator. Then on the platform, there was an argument, a fight, and then the stabbing. The King County Medical Examiner reports Bellett was stabbed or cut three times with a box cutter, including once in the neck and once in the torso.

Past coverage: Man arrested following deadly light rail stabbing of beloved Seattle chef

Prosecutors said the $3 million bail is necessary.

“That is based on both a danger to the community that the defendant would pose if he were released, as well as the significant risk of flight should he be released,” Sr. King County Dep. Prosecutor Jason Brookhyser said.

But the defense had a different view. They said that the use of force by the suspect may have been warranted.

“A reasonable inference can be made that getting shoved, unprovoked, next to the light rail tracks could give rise to reasonable belief of imminent harm or death,” defense attorney Brooks DePeyster said.

Bellett worked at Harry’s Fine Foods and was a beloved chef in the Seattle restaurant community.

“We’re all connected, somehow,” Shea Bigger, a local bar server told KIRO 7. “We all have mutual friends. So, it does, you know, you feel it.”

Back at the light rail station, passengers are calling for more security.

“More security presence on the trains, on the platforms, where all the heavy traffic is,” light rail passenger George Alvarez told KIRO Newsradio.

A Sound Transit spokesperson told KIRO Newsradio that attacks like this are extremely rare and the trains are very safe.

However, Bellett’s death is the second time this year that someone has been killed at a Link light rail station.

The name of the suspect hasn’t been released because he hasn’t been charged yet. He’s due back in court Thursday afternoon.

You can read more of James Lynch’s stories here. Follow James on X, formerly known as Twitter, or email him here.

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Eighteen-year-old Felnin Celesten, who is already the No. 5 prospect in the Seattle Mariners organization, hit his first professional home runs on Monday night while playing for the Mariners team at the Arizona Complex League.

Per the Prospect One Podcast group:

Felnin Celesten @Mariners with an absolute BOMB for his first professional home run! look at him adjust and take this high fastball up and out to dead center about 430. #ProspectOne

A shortstop, Celesten is hitting .423 in seven games this year at the complex level. He’s got a .516 on-base percentage and six extra-base hits. He actually homered twice on Monday night and could be a quick riser through the Mariners system.

Per a portion of his MLB.com prospect profile:

Signed for $4.7 million as the No. 2 prospect in MLB Pipeline’s international class for 2023, Celesten immediately ascended near the top of the organization’s rankings with perhaps as much upside as any position player in the system. The switch-hitting shortstop has even been touted with the highest ceiling of any international shortstop in a decade, including Marco Luciano and Robert Puason. A huge factor in that hype was related to his performances in Colombia and the U.S., along with grander tournaments in the Dominican Republic against older competition.

While the Mariners have long been built on pitching, right now the top five prospects (Cole Young, Harry Ford, Colt Emerson, Laz Montes and Celesten) are all position players, which should give M’s fans hope, considering the organization has longed for consistent offense.

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