After finally capturing their first win of 2023, the Minnesota Lynx will aim to build on that success when they visit the New York Liberty on Wednesday.
The Lynx (1-6) ended a tough winless stretch to begin the season when they edged the host Washington Mystics 80-78 on Saturday. Tiffany Mitchell had a layup partially blocked, but she caught her own rebound and made the putback for the winning basket with 3.0 seconds left.
Kayla McBride led all scorers with 24 points, Napheesa Collier had 17 points and nine rebounds and Mitchell joined Jessica Shepard with 10 points apiece for Minnesota.
“It’s been a rough start to the season,” McBride told the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “We had a meeting with just the starters and (coach Cheryl Reeve on Friday). The biggest message was that we had to be desperate. We know how hard it is to win in this league, especially on the road against a great team.”
The Lynx might be catching New York, billed as a super-team before the season, at the right time. The Liberty (4-2) surrendered a 19-point lead and lost 86-82 to the Chicago Sky on Sunday.
Star free-agent signee Breanna Stewart led the Liberty in scoring for the fifth straight game with 20 points. She added 11 rebounds to make it her fifth double-double of the season. But the Liberty made just 6 of 25 3-point attempts and were outscored 17-10 at the free-throw line.
“It’s disappointing but, hopefully, this is a wake-up. Some players need to wake up a little bit more,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said. “We went away from what worked for us.”
Brondello added that she felt the Liberty didn’t get Stewart enough touches.
Collier leads the Lynx in scoring (18.6 points per game) and adds 1.7 steals and 1.1 blocks per game on the other end. She’ll match up down low with Stewart, who’s second in the WNBA with 23.7 points per game and fourth in rebounding with 10.5 per game.
New York guard Courtney Vandersloot leads the WNBA with 8.8 assists per game. She’s coming off her second double-double of the season, with 18 points and 10 assists against Chicago.
–Field Level Media
