Lynx top Wings 90-78 as Natisha Hiedeman brings needed spark

Good depth on a team doesn’t necessarily mean getting a ton of points off the bench every night.

Sometimes it means having people who can, on a given night, come off the bench to help win a game.

On Monday night at Target Center, that somebody was Natisha Hiedeman.

In a 90-78 victory over a Dallas team playing without the league’s second-leading scorer in Arike Ogunbowale, in a game perhaps tighter than it needed to be, Hiedeman provided the spark.

With the Lynx down two points late in the third quarter, Hiedeman scored nine points with four assists in a 21-6 run that put the Lynx up 78-65 on Dorka Juhász‘s basket from a Hiedeman feed with 7:17 left in the game.

Hiedeman finished with a season-high 15 points and had five assists. She made six of nine shots.

And the Lynx needed it on a night when some of their starters were struggling to make shots. Napheesa Collier (16), Alanna Smith (12) and Courtney Williams (6) combined for 34 points, but they also combined to shoot 13-for-40.

Kayla McBride (19) and Juhász (11), who started with Bridget Carleton out with an elbow injury, were also in double figures for the Lynx, who won their fourth straight game and their seventh in eight games.

The Wings (3-10) lost their eighth straight despite getting 17 points each from Maddie Siegrist and Sevgi Uzan. Dallas scored 44 points in the paint and got 14 second-chance points. But they struggled down the stretch, turning the ball over seven times in the final 10 minutes, with four of them coming on Smith’s steals.

The Lynx went 5-for-7 on three-pointers — three players hit at least one — and shot 50% in the first half, but only led 27-22 when it ended.

The reason? Even without Ogunbowale the Wings’ offense ran efficiently. They shot 52.6% and made two of four threes of their own.

The Lynx led by just two late in the quarter when Smith stole the ball and started a fast-break. But the Wings committed a clear-path foul. Smith hit both free throws, McBride was fouled and hit both free throws on the ensuing possession and McBride’s three put the Lynx up 27-18 before the Wings scored the quarter’s final four points.

BOXSCORE: Lynx 90, Dallas 78

With Collier missing her first four shots of the second quarter the Wings pushed back, starting the quarter 15-10 to tie the game at 37 on Siegrist’s put-back with 4:12 left in the half.

The two teams combined for just eight points the rest of the half. Fortunately, the Lynx scored six of them. Collier finally got going, driving for two scores in the closing minutes of the half as the Lynx pushed back to a 43-39 halftime lead.

The Lynx led despite Collier and Courtney Williams going a combined 3-for-17 in the first half.

The Wings were down five when they went on a 7-0 run to take a two-point lead on Billings’ jumper with 2:14 left in the quarter.

Out of a timeout, Hiedeman drove for a score, was fouled and made the layup. Next time down, she was fouled and hit two free throws, then fed Smith for a layup. Cecilia Zandalasini‘s two free throws with 16 seconds left in the quarter put the Lynx up five, but the Wings scored at the buzzer.