While the Minnesota Lynx are waiting for Napheesa Collier to fully recover from a lingering ankle injury, they continue to notch victories and pad their lead atop the WNBA standings.

The Lynx attempt to extend their winning streak to seven games Tuesday night when they visit the New York Liberty for the teams’ fourth matchup in three weeks. The game is another rematch of last season’s WNBA Finals, won by the Liberty in five games.

The Lynx (28-5) hold a 3-0 advantage between the teams this season heading into the finale of the season series.

Collier scored 30 points in the first meeting between the teams when the Lynx earned a 100-93 victory on July 30 and was injured three days later in a game at Las Vegas. Minnesota’s Courtney Williams, Alanna Smith and Kayla McBride have stepped up in the absence of the WNBA’s top scorer at 23.5 points per game.

The Lynx earned an 86-80 home win over the Liberty on Saturday when Williams scored 26 points. McBride finished with 18 points in Minnesota’s 83-71 win at New York on Aug. 10.

“To do this, in the stretch of games (when) we’re playing against really good teams, I’m super proud of us,” said Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve, whose team has added victories over the Aces, Seattle Storm and Washington Mystics to the three against the Liberty.

New York (21-13) is 4-6 since losing Breanna Stewart with a bone bruise in her right knee on July 26. The Liberty split the first six games of Stewart’s absence but return home with three losses in their past four games, including Saturday when the Lynx attempted 33 free throws and New York reached the foul line eight times.

Sabrina Ionescu led the Liberty in scoring four times in the first six games after Stewart was forced out early in their 101-99 loss to the Los Angeles Sparks. Ionescu was held to 13 points Saturday and is shooting 32.9 percent (26-of-79) over her past six games and was 5-of-16 from the floor Sunday.

Jonquel Jones led the Liberty with 17 on Saturday but combined with Ionsecu for just one point in the fourth quarter at Minnesota. Jones did not take a shot in more than seven minutes of the final quarter.

“We got to just continue to get better every single game and I think we’ve done that,” Ionescu said. “It’s been a long month on the road and for us to get back home in front of our crowd and we owe them from the last game that we played the Lynx at home.”

–Field Level Media