Coach Cheryl Reeve reminded the Lynx before Thursday afternoon’s game that their opponent was a desperate team.
And it played like one.
Roughly 40 hours after defeating the team with the WNBA’s best record to win the Commissioner’s Cup, the Lynx started fast against the league’s last-place team but were outscored by 19 points over the final three quarters in 94-88 loss at Dallas.
“This is a job, we need to come prepared no matter what the circumstances are,” said Napheesa Collier, who led Minnesota with 29 points and 11 rebounds.
Alanna Smith had 15 points, six rebounds, four assists and three blocks. All her points came on a career-high five treys, the last coming in the opening minute of the second half.
In addition to its Commissioner’s Cup win over New York, which does not count in the season standings, Minnesota (13-4) had officially won six straight regular-season games and nine of 10.
Losers of 11 straight entering the game, Dallas (4-13) shot 48.7 percent from the field, the best by a Lynx opponent this season.
“We shot 47 percent, 42 from three, we had our usual 27 assists for 33 field goals. We scored 88 points, and that should be enough to win a game,” Reeve said.
“We were not defensively who we needed to be today, and that was our greatest disappointment. We weren’t difficult to play against. They created their own breaks, they created the pace about themselves, they created confidence to go where they wanted to go and our resistance in keeping them from getting downhill was little to none. Our effort on the glass was typical, and sometimes that’s going to bite you in the (rear), and it bit us in the (rear). You can’t give up 14 offensive rebounds and just keep letting them get multiple shots.”
The Lynx were outscored 48-30 in the paint. Dallas guards penetrated almost at will, and Teaira McCowan, a 6-foot-7 center, scored 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.
Down 71-70 after three quarters — just the third time this season the Lynx have trailed heading to the fourth quarter — and trailing by six midway through the fourth quarter, Collier hit a jumper, Bridget Carleton added her third trey and Dorka Juhász scored for an 83-82 Lynx lead.
Odyssey Sims, who finished with 18 points in her first game after signing a hardship contract Tuesday, scored on a layup with 3:10 left to put Dallas up 90-84.
A Carleton jumper got Minnesota within 91-88 with 1:02 to go, but Jacy Sheldon sank a three for the Wings 13 seconds later. Carleton, Natisha Hiedeman and Collier missed late threes. Minnesota made just one of five long-range shots in the final quarter after going 10 for 21 through three periods.
Playing a desperate Dallas squad, the Lynx started hot from deep to open a 13-point lead after one quarter. Smith had three triples and Carleton two in the period.
Smith drained her fourth three to bump the Lynx lead to 15 with 3:20 left in the second quarter, but the Wings scored the final 13 points before the break.
“Offensively, we started doing more complicated things. They started playing off either our missed shots or bad decisions, turnovers, whatever. They turned it up,” Reeve said, singling out the aggressiveness of Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale. “Her efforts defensively gave the others confidence to get up and pressure. Our response to that was not great, took bad shots, got rushed, turned it over.”
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