For much of the night, unlike most of the season, the threes weren’t falling for the Minnesota Lynx. For the first half of the game, unlike just about every game so far, the Lynx defense struggled.
And then things got better.
Clamping down on defense in the second half, taking control on the offensive end, riding Napheesa Collier and Courtney Williams, the Lynx rallied from 12 down late in the second quarter to an 81-76 victory over the Los Angeles Sparks on Friday at Target Center.
The Lynx improved to 10-3, winning their third straight game and their sixth in the last seven. On a night when the WNBA’s best three-point shooting team made just six of 23 attempts, the Lynx, forced to grind it out, got 30 points and six boards from Collier and a 15-point, 10-assist, eight-rebound double-double from Williams, her first in a Lynx uniform.
A 29-10 run that started with 2:10 left in the first half until 2:37 remained in the third put the Lynx up seven and, it turned out, for good.
The Lynx shot 49.2% from the field, making 24 of 38 two-point shots.
But it was the defense — finally — that won this game.
The Sparks shot 51.7% overall and made four of seven threes in the first half.
But they were just 6-for-20 in the third quarter, when the Lynx took over the game. They went 13-for-35 in the second half, going just 1-for-12 on three-pointers.
Bridget Carleton made three of six three-pointer and scored 11. Alanna Smith had 12 points and seven rebounds.
The Sparks (4-9) had four players score in double figures, led by Rickea Jackson (19) and Dearica Hamby (16).
The Lynx led 7-6 early when, offensively, things went downhill.
Over the final seven minutes of the first quarter the Sparks — who got six points each from Jackson, Hamby and McDonald in the quarter outscored Minnesota 19-7 to take a nine-point lead into the second quarter.
BOXSCORE: Lynx 81, Los Angeles 76
The Lynx shot 6-for-15 in the quarter. After Carleton hit Minnesota’s first three-point attempt, the Lynx missed their next six, turning the ball over six times. It was Minnesota’s lowest-scoring first quarter of the season.
For most of the second quarter it was the same story. The Lynx started clicking on offense, but the defense was still a problem. When Brown scored on a layup with 3 minutes left in the half the Sparks were up 40-28.
Then Collier took over. She scored nine points in Minnesota’s 11-4 finish to the half that brought Minnesota within 44-39.
Still, the Sparks finished the half shooting nearly 52%overall, having made four of seven threes and enjoying a 10-6 edge on made free throws.
If not for Collier — who had 17 first-half points — the Sparks’ lead would likely have been bigger.
And then the Lynx came out at halftime and held the Sparks to 6-for-20 shooting in the third quarter, out-scoring the Sparks 20-12 to lead 59-56 entering the fourth.
And it could have been better.
The Lynx began the quarter on an 18-6 run to take a 57-50 lead on Carleton’s third three pointer of the night.
But the Sparks out-scored the Lynx 6-2 in the final minute of the quarter to cut the Minnesota lead to three.
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