Thursday turned into a playoff preview for the Minnesota Lynx.

Entering the regular-season finale, if the Lynx beat Golden State they’d begin the postseason against the expansion Valkyries, whom they were unbeaten against. A loss meant they would get a Seattle team that beat them twice in four regular-season matchups.

The defense was strong throughout, the offense turned it up in the final quarter, and the Lynx prepped for the playoffs with a 72-53 victory over the Valkyries.

Game 1 of the best-of-three, first-round series between the No. 1 and No. 8 seeds is Sunday at Target Center.

Finishing 34-10, Minnesota tied the 2023 Las Vegas Aces for the most wins in a season in WNBA history. The Lynx finished 20-2 at home.

Natisha Hiedeman led the Lynx with 21 points, and potential league Most Valuable Player Napheesa Collier finished with 19 points, making eight of 10 shots, including three triples in four attempts to add another mark to her stellar career.

Collier is the second player in league history to finish with a 50-40-90 percentage for field goals, 3-pointers and free throws. Her final splits are 53.1%/40.3%/90.6%. Washington’s Elena Delle Donne did it in her 2019 MVP season.

The Lynx shot 43.3%, including 9 for 17 in the fourth quarter when they pulled away.

On Fan Appreciation Night, pink wigs were handed out to the Lynx faithful in honor of the StudBudz duo of Hiedeman and Courtney Williams. The duo keyed a fourth quarter start that quickly bumped a six-point lead to 13.

Dribbling off the wing, Hiedeman did a pump fake, stepped around a defender and scored on a scoop. A trey by Kayla McBride was followed by a Williams steal that resulted in a fast-break layup by Hiedeman.

Hiedeman swished another triple and scored on a layup to make it 59-41.

Averaging 8.8 points per game coming in, Hiedeman’s total made it the fourth time in five games she has scored at least 20.

Coming off a Tuesday loss in Indiana, a game where the Lynx lacked the needed aggression, Minnesota found ways to get back to what made them so successful in their own end.

How good was the aggressive Minnesota defense?

Golden State’s point total was the lowest against Minnesota this season. Its 22 first-half points, the fewest in a half by a Lynx opponent this season. The Valkyries’ eight first-quarter points tied for the fewest in a quarter by a Minnesota foe.

Losers of three straight games after winning five in a row, Golden State (23-21) was just 9 of 33 from the field in the first half, missing all 13 3-point tries and turning the ball over 12 times. It finished with 21.

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A grand jury has indicted a 36-year-old man in the April fatal shooting of his 72-year-old roommate in their South St. Paul apartment, the Dakota County Attorney’s Office said Thursday.

The indictment charges Jacob John Audie, 36, with one count each of first-degree murder and second-degree intentional murder in connection with the killing of Michael Maurice Schille at an apartment building on 12th Avenue off Thompson Avenue.

Jacob John Audie (Courtesy of the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office)

Audie was previously charged with second-degree intentional murder, not premeditated.

According to the criminal complaint, Audie called 911 about 8:45 p.m. April 11 and reported that he had shot Schille. Schille was found in the back bedroom with a television remote in his hand; he had a gunshot wound to the side of his face. He was declared dead.

Police arrested Audie in the apartment building’s parking lot. He gave a statement to police, saying he lived with Schille for the last year or two. He said he helped care for Schille and clean the apartment.

Audie said he used Schille’s AR-15 rifle to shoot the man once in the cheek area in Schille’s bedroom, according to the complaint, which doesn’t give a motive for the shooting. Officers located an AR-style rifle in the living room.

Audie remains in custody at the Dakota County jail in lieu of $1 million bail ahead of his next court hearing scheduled for Tuesday.

If convicted of first-degree murder, he faces the mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

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The praise that rookie punt returner Myles Price has been garnering in the aftermath of his NFL debut is very much deserved.

Let’s just say he certainly looked the part

After signing with the Vikings an undrafted free agent this spring, Price slowly started to separate himself from some of his peers this summer. He solidified his spot on the roster by winning the competition to be the punt returner.

“I knew at some point I was going to get my opportunity,” Price said. “As soon as I got it, I said, ‘Don’t give it back.’ ”

That seemed to be Price’s mentality on Monday night at Soldier Field as he did his part to help the Vikings earn a 27-24 win over the Chicago Bears.

“He was able to make a guy miss at the point of attack and get to the second level where his blockers were,” special teams coordinator Matt Daniels said. “We stole a lot of the hidden yardage in that game.”

In the end, Price finished with four punt returns for 68 yards, showing a combination of shiftiness and explosiveness in space. That number is not insignificant when considering journeyman receiver Brandon Powell served as the punt returner last season and logged 164 yards total.

Minnesota cornerback Marcus Sherels makes New Orleans defensive end George Johnson miss during a punt return in the first quarter of an NFC playoff game at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Sunday Jan. 14, 2018. (Pioneer Press / John Autey)

There’s an argument to be made that Price is already the best player the Vikings have had in that role since longtime punt returner Marcus Sherels.

What makes a great punt returner?

To figure out the answer to that question, the Pioneer Press tracked down Sherels, who still owns a bunch of franchise records, including most punt return touchdowns in a career (5), among others.

“It’s a position that not a lot of guys want to play,” Sherels said with a laugh. “There’s a lot of pressure being out there on an island.”

If anybody would know, it’s Sherels, who did it for the better part of a decade. A defensive back at Minnesota, his journey with the Vikings started in 2010 after he was invited to rookie minicamp on a tryout. He remembers arriving at Winter Park and seeing his last name was misspelled on the depth chart.

After garnering few reps on defense at his first practice, Sherels approached former special teams coordinator Brian Murphy and told him he wanted to join the competition at punt returner.

“He was like, ‘Sure. Whatever,’ ” Sherels said. “He didn’t even really know who I was at the time. I ended up doing it, and I was catching them fine. He kind of liked what he saw and they signed me.”

Never mind that Sherels went on to become the GOAT punt returner for the Vikings. He admitted there was a feeling-out process despite finishing with 2,480 punt return yards.

“I would be back there like, ‘Please don’t drop it. Please don’t drop it. Please don’t drop it,’ ” Sherels said. “My mindset kind of changed as I got more and more comfortable. I wanted those opportunities. I went in knowing I could change the game.”

Asked how he perfected his craft, Sherels credited the countless hours he spent with former special teams coordinator Mike Priefer. They would stay late after practice to get extra reps in. They would also watch tons of film to learn tendencies of opposing punters.

“He really believed in me, so we put a lot of time in it,” Sherels said. “That’s what it takes to be great at it.”

Though a willingness to work is extremely important to success at the highest level, Sherels said the key to having staying power as a punt returner is consistently being able to make the initial defender miss.

“I think where I kind of stood out was with my quickness,” he said. “I was pretty good at making people miss, and then I could use my vision to read where to go once I had the ball in my hands.”

There’s also some fearlessness required.

“You’ve also got to be able to take a hit and get back up no matter what,” Sherels said. “There were a bunch of times I didn’t make the right decision with the fair catch, and I got blown up because of it.”

As he was sitting at home this week watching the Vikings play the Chicago Bears, Sherels found himself glued to the screen whenever a ball was booted skyward.

“That’s still my favorite play to watch,” he said. “It brings me back.”

What did he think of Price in his NFL debut?

“He looked good,” Sherels said. “He had some juice. I’m excited to watch him. I think he’s going to keep getting better and better.”

Minnesota cornerback Marcus Sherels makes New Orleans defensive end George Johnson miss during a punt return in the first quarter of an NFC playoff game at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Sunday Jan. 14, 2018. (Pioneer Press / John Autey)

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A jury has convicted a St. Paul man for his role in the assault and shooting of a 42-year-old outside a Rice Street bar.

Edward G. Robinson, 43, was found guilty this week in Ramsey County District Court of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and first-degree assault for the killing of Oscar Lee Covington, who died nearly a month after he was robbed and shot on Oct. 30 after patronizing Born’s Bar along Rice Street near Manitoba Avenue. He’s scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 7.

Edward G. Robinson (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

The alleged shooter, Marlon Deion Dickey, 40, has been charged with second-degree murder and prosecutors are awaiting his extradition from another state, according to a spokesman for the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office.

Meanwhile, Erica Ruth Hampton, who was working as a bartender at Born’s, is charged with aiding an offender by being an accomplice after the fact. A jury trial is scheduled for next month.

Officers called to the bar about 5:45 p.m. on a report of a shooting found Covington on the ground in front of the bar with a gunshot wound to his torso.

Items recovered by police at the scene included Robinson’s wallet and cellphone.

Covington talked to investigators at the hospital the next day and said that, when he went outside, a short man he didn’t know but who he’d seen around asked him for a cigarette. People with the man had their hoods up, which he made note of because it wasn’t cold. He said he was then robbed and shot.

Surveillance video from the bar and nearby businesses showed that Covington left the bar about 5:42 p.m. Robinson “began a physical assault” on Covington, with others joining in, according to the criminal complaint.

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Dickey pulled out a handgun and swung it at Covington’s head. He then put the gun to Covington’s torso and fired, “and everyone involved in the robbery and shooting scattered,” the complaint says.

An analysis of the casing found at the scene showed that it was fired by the same gun that fired a casing recovered at a shooting in Milwaukee in 2022, according to the complaint, which adds that Dickey has ties to the Milwaukee area.

Covington’s wife notified St. Paul police on Nov. 26 that Covington had died after being removed from life support.