Current:Home > reviewsMinnesota Lynx cruise to Game 3 win vs. Connecticut Sun, close in on WNBA Finals -NextFrontier Finance
Minnesota Lynx cruise to Game 3 win vs. Connecticut Sun, close in on WNBA Finals
View
Date:2025-04-17 18:11:39
Napheesa Collier collected 26 points and 11 rebounds as the Minnesota Lynx cruised to a 90-81 victory over the Connecticut Sun on Friday night in Uncasville, Connecticut, in Game 3 of a WNBA semifinal series.
With the win, Minnesota grabbed a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five set and will have a chance to punch its ticket to the WNBA Finals when the teams meet again on Sunday in Uncasville for Game 4.
Collier went 11-for-19 from the field and was one of the many beneficiaries of a fluid Lynx offense that dished out 22 assists. Courtney Williams chipped in 16 points and eight of those helpers, while Kayla McBride finished with 13 points and Bridget Carleton scored 12.
All five Connecticut starters scored in double figures, with Brionna Jones (21 points) leading the way. DeWanna Bonner contributed 16 points, and Marina Mabrey netted 14 but hit just 1 of 11 triples. Triple-double threat Alyssa Thomas supplied 13 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.
Minnesota outshot the Sun 57.4 percent to 41.1 percent overall.
Mabrey finally got going in the third quarter for Connecticut, scoring seven points in the opening 4:16 of the frame. Her three-point play trimmed the Sun's deficit to 54-47, but she immediately gave those points back, fouling Carleton on a 3-point attempt.
Carleton's perfect trip to the free-throw line made it a 10-point game, and Minnesota led by at least eight for the rest of the third before taking a 68-54 cushion into the fourth.
Bonner converted an and-one with 1:20 left in the game to trim the hosts' deficit to 86-79. However, Williams and Carleton quickly answered with jumpers to put the contest out of reach.
Collier knocked down 4 of 5 shots in the first quarter, posting eight points to lift Minnesota to a 23-16 lead after 10 minutes of action.
Connecticut soon fell into a nine-point hole but used a 6-0 spurt to pull within 26-23 with 7:37 left in the second quarter.
The rest of the first half belonged to the Lynx, though. They went up by as many as 14 at 46-32, when Alanna Smith split a pair of free throws with 1:56 to go to polish off a game-changing 20-9 run. Minnesota settled for a 48-36 advantage at the break.
veryGood! (597)
Related
- Meta releases AI model to enhance Metaverse experience
- Surfer suffers leg injury in possible shark attack at beach near San Francisco, police say
- Populist Slovak ex-prime minister signs coalition deal with 2 other parties to form a new government
- Settlement over Trump family separations at the border seeks to limit future separations for 8 years
- Costco membership growth 'robust,' even amid fee increase: What to know about earnings release
- Israel-Hamas war upends China’s ambitions in the Middle East but may serve Beijing in the end
- The Israel-Hamas war has roiled US campuses. Students on each side say colleges aren’t doing enough
- Will Smith Reacts to Estranged Wife Jada Pinkett Smith's Bombshell Memoir
- How to watch new prequel series 'Dexter: Original Sin': Premiere date, cast, streaming
- Surfer suffers leg injury in possible shark attack at beach near San Francisco, police say
Ranking
- Olympic disqualification of gold medal hopeful exposes 'dark side' of women's wrestling
- Palestinian recounts evacuating from Gaza while her brothers, father stayed behind
- Travis Barker Shares Photo of Gruesome Hand Injury After Blink-182 Concert
- Vanderpump Rules' Tom Sandoval Still Doesn't Understand Why His Affair Was Such a Big Deal
- The seven biggest college football quarterback competitions include Michigan, Ohio State
- European Union leaders to hold a summit with Western Balkans nations to discuss joining the bloc
- How to kill maggots: Where the pests come from, and how to get rid of them explained.
- The origins of candy corn: A divisive delicacy, destined to be a Halloween tradition
Recommendation
Former Milwaukee hotel workers charged with murder after video shows them holding down Black man
Suzanne Somers, fitness icon and star of Three's Company, dies at age 76 following cancer battle
Montana man mauled by a grizzly bear gets to go home after five weeks in the hospital.
College athletes are fighting to get a cut from the billions they generate in media rights deals
$1 Frostys: Wendy's celebrates end of summer with sweet deal
Pakistani forces clash with militants and kill 6 fighters during a raid in the northwest
Police pursuit in Indiana ends with suspect crashing vehicle, killing 2, seriously injuring 4
The war between Israel and Hamas is testing the Republican Party’s isolationist shift