Napheesa Collier scored 28 points, including four clutch free throws late in the final minute, and the Minnesota Lynx held off the Dallas Wings 85-81 on Wednesday.
Courtney Williams and Alanna Smith each added 13 points in front of a home opener crowd of 12,772 after the Lynx beat Dallas 99-84 in the opener for both teams on Friday.
For the third straight game, Minnesota (3-0) had 27 assists. Just one Minnesota basket did not come with a helper. The Lynx shot 47.5% from the field after combining for 50.4% in its first two wins.
Arike Ogunbowale led 0-3 Dallas with 21 points. Paige Bueckers, the former Hopkins High School standout and top pick in this year’s WNBA Draft, had 12 on 3-of-11 shooting.
Routinely up by eight or nine points in the second and third quarters, the Lynx could not put away the Wings.
Minnesota led by a game-high 11 points, 63-52, with less than three minutes to play in the third quarter, but Dallas cut the lead to 76-73 on a 3-pointers by Ogunbowale and DiJonai Carrington with 3:41 left in the fourth.
Minnesota missed six of its first eight shots and four of its first six free throws in the frame.
But Williams made a long jumper, Smith had a block, Williams added a pair of free throws, and Natisha Hiedeman one for an 81-73 Lynx lead with 1:32 left.
A 3-point play by Myisha Hines-Allen got the Wings within five. The Lynx committed a 5-second violation on the inbounds play, and Hines-Allen made two free throws with 1:15 left.
Minnesota committed 19 turnovers.
Collier pushed the lead back to five with a couple free throws, but a 3 from Ogunbowale made it a two-point game with 39 seconds left.
Williams grabbed an offensive rebound, Collier made two free throws with 17.5 seconds left and the Lynx could exhale.
Down 15-5 early, coach Cheryl Reeve called the first Lynx timeout. Perhaps a well-timed wake-up call because the Lynx took over at both ends of the court, outscoring the Wings 16-3 over the final six minutes of the quarter for a 21-18 lead. Dallas made six of its first seven shots, but only one of its next 12.
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