Setting records while saying her name: Seattle Storm wins 2020 championship

The Seattle Storm won the WNBA title Tuesday night with a defeat over Las Vegas. It's the team's fourth championship and a tie for the league record.

Also impressive -- The Storm dominated the first three games of the five-game final series.

The winning season has put Breanna Stewart back in the spotlight, after she was absent in 2019 for an injury (along with Sue Bird). Stewart scored 26 points during Tuesday's game.

In addition to the championship, Stewart took home the title of WNBA Finals MVP.

"You know, I don't even think about the games. But, I think about the things that we did as a collective unit. We did a lot. And, we tried to impact people in other ways besides on the basketball court. I'm extremely proud to be part of this group - obviously a part of Seattle - but a part of the WNBA."

Stewart says she will always look back on this season with pride.

"We were able to do something as a league that on one else was. We were able to show our strength in numbers. What we did, how we represented ourselves on and off the court was something that was extremely special. It just goes to show that people need to get behind women and people need to get behind the WNBA."

Commenting before the winning game Tuesday, sports writer Chantel Jennings at the Athletic told KUOW that The Storm had a few factors coming together that helped give them an edge this season.

“This is a team that last year kind of overachieved when Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart were out," Jennings said. "That meant all the other players on the team raised their level of play. So you have a team that grew as a unit and individuals in 2019, got playoff experience, and then you bring back to that a hungrier, more refreshed Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart and everyone’s level comes up.”

Jennings also notes that the team, and the entire league, has placed social justice at the forefront this year, not basketball.

"The players came into this season and they wanted to dedicate this season to social justice and Breonna Taylor and say her name," she said.

"They have educated their viewers about the US census, they have advocated for specific politicians," Jennings said. "This is a league that I think has always had a conscience, more so than any other league in the world. And you see a league that has always been activist but this year they've almost become organizers in a sense ... in how they've connected the dots between social justice and voting."