Courtney Williams reiterated what has been a Lynx mantra all season.
“We know if we lean into our defense and we bring energy on defense, our offense follows,” she said after Monday night’s 91-78 win at Chicago.
That was a significant difference for the Lynx (19-4), who played much better in their own end against a Chicago team with a strong inside presence. The Sky had a 36-34 edge in the paint, both teams had 34 rebounds, and second-chance points were just 7-5 Sky.
In Saturday’s 87-81 loss in Chicago, the Lynx were outscored 44-28 in the paint, were outrebounded 45-28, and the Sky had a 28-10 advantage in second-chance points.
“It takes a lot out of you physically to make plays against some pretty good pressure. … I was hoping we could wear them down and I think that happened a little bit,” said coach Cheryl Reeve.
Williams had four of Minnesota’s season-high 14 steals. Napheesa Collier and Bridget Carleton each had three.
“Getting those steals, we had a lot deflections, trying to get them off the boards. That was really huge, because those second-chance points they get off those offensive rebounds allows their field-goal percentage to go up with easy buckets, and then we’re not playing in transition, which is where we want to be,” Collier said.
She scored a game-high 29 points, including 11 for 11 from the free-throw line and 4 of 7 from deep. Williams scored 18 points, grabbed eight rebounds and added seven assists.
“I had a chip on my shoulder for sure,” Williams said.
“After we lost the last game, all my comments — Instagram, Facebook, Twitter — was flooded like, ‘You ain’t beat Chicago.’ They want to be trolls, but they can’t troll the troll,” she said with a devilish-like laugh. “We had to get our git back.”
With the final seconds of the third quarter ticking away, Williams drove into the lane and passed it out to Collier, who drained a 3-pointer with less than a second left for a five-point Minnesota lead.
Midway through the fourth quarter, Williams had a steal in the defensive end. Nineteen seconds later, her pass from below the basket went out to Collier, who calmly stroked another trey for a 12-point cushion.
This is the last of four straight road games for the Lynx, who went 2-2 on the trip. Minnesota has a Wednesday noon home game against Phoenix before the all-star break.
Minnesota shot 46.5% from the field, had 26 assists on 33 makes, and scored 24 points off 19 Sky turnovers.
Kayla McBride added 17 points, including a trio of fourth-quarter baskets, and Carleton had a trio of treys amongst her 11 points.
“This was one of BC’s best games this year,” Reeve said. “We’ve been really on her about aggression and being more of an assassin mindset as a shooter. When she doesn’t take those shots and be aggressive, what she’s leaving for the others gets a lot harder. I really thought BC took that to heart and from start to finish was locked in.”
Minnesota led by seven late in the first quarter. Chicago (7-14) led by 10 late in the second quarter, but treys from Carleton and McBride got the Lynx within 46-44 at halftime.
Two days ago, the Sky had 57 first-half points and a 13-point lead at the break.
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