The WNBA playoffs begin on Sunday, and the Minnesota Lynx have earned the top seed.

Minnesota Lynx’s Bridget Carleton (6) puts up a shot against Indiana Fever’s Brianna Turner during the first half of a WNBA basketball game, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

But don’t tell coach Cheryl Reeve that her squad can simply coast to the finish line.

“More than anything it’s understanding who we are,” she said pregame Tuesday. “More than anything it’s shoring up what we consider areas that need to be shored up. I’m obviously not going to reveal all those things, but we’ve taken a deep dive on ourselves. We’re trying to use these games to get a little bit better to gain some momentum going into the playoffs.”

Then came an 83-72 loss at Indiana.

The Lynx are still a league-best 33-10, but 5-5 in their past 10 outings and 3-3 in their past six.

Minnesota made 33 of 74 shots (44.6%), but a season-low two on 20 3-point attempts. The league’s top 3-point shooting team at 38.5%, the Lynx missed their first 13 tries, including all 12 in the first half. Of Minnesota’s 72 points, 58 came in the paint.

Jessica Shepard was 8 of 10 from the field for 16 points to go along with seven rebounds to lead the Lynx. Maria Kliundikova had 12 points off the bench, Alanna Smith had 11 points, and Courtney Williams contributed eight points and five assists.

Shepard started because leading scorer and potential league Most Valuable Player Napheesa Collier got the night off for rest purposes. DiJonai Carrington missed her third straight game with a subluxed left shoulder, but Reeve said it’s trending in the right direction.

No one on a team playing its third straight road game will use either absence as a reason for allowing Indiana to shoot 48.4%, including 57.6% in the opening half. The Fever scored the first 10 points of the game, added a 9-0 run late in the frame, and led by as many as 17 points in the second quarter.

Minnesota scored the first nine points of the second half to make it a four-point game, but the Fever scored 21 of the next 29 points, and the Lynx were down 70-53. The Indiana lead reached 24 in the fourth quarter.

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Authorities say they are working with the owner of a 36-foot houseboat that has been beached at Harriet Island Regional Park for the past month.

The houseboat, manufactured by the former Whit-Craft Boat Co. of Winona, Minn., was first spotted on Aug. 10 by a deputy from the Ramsey County Water Patrol while patrolling the Mississippi River in St. Paul. The vessel was tied to the shore and partially in the water at Harriet Island, according to Steve Linders, a Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office spokesman.

The boat’s motor bay was propped open, and the boat appeared to be disabled. When the deputy contacted the boat’s registered owner, authorities learned that the boat had recently been sold and that the new owner had suffered a stroke while aboard the vessel.

Although the deputy has followed up on the situation and been told the owner is working to move the boat, it still remained on the riverbank as of Tuesday.

Linders said that the sheriff’s office will continue to work with the owner to get the boat removed.

In May, a 54-foot cruiser was finally removed from the St. Croix River near Hudson, Wis., after it had been abandoned nine months earlier, creating a local nuisance.

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Austin Martin’s season didn’t start how he would have liked it to have, but he’s certainly not letting that affect how he’s finishing it.

The utilityman was one of the final cuts in camp, sent down to Triple-A when the Twins initially opted to carry DaShawn Keirsey Jr. on the Opening Day roster over him. He likely would have been up in the early weeks of the season anyways if not for a hamstring strain suffered at Triple-A just days into the season.

The day he returned from the injured list, he aggravated that same hamstring again.

Martin didn’t return until June 26. He didn’t reach the majors again until Aug. 1, after the Twins had traded away about 40 percent of their roster, opening up an opportunity for him that he was determined to capitalize on.

“It’s something that I feel like I needed to do was just kind of prove to everybody here what I’m capable of doing,” Martin said.

His manager has certainly taken notice.

Twice on Monday, Rocco Baldelli mentioned Martin unprompted, heaping praise onto the 26-year-old, who entered play on Tuesday hitting .290 with a .389 on-base percentage and a 116 OPS+, a number that is 16 percent above the league-average hitter.

As the Twins shift to a more aggressive approach on the bases, Baldelli has praised Martin and pointed to him as someone whom he thought would really take advantage of the style of play the Twins are implementing. Case in point, Martin aggressively came home on a shallow sacrifice fly in the eighth inning on Monday, beating out the throw.

“Austin Martin’s continued to do real good things for us,” Baldelli said. “The competitiveness of his at-bats, it’s pretty great right now. He’s not chasing anything out of the zone. He’s barreling stuff up in the zone. He’s running the bases good.”

Martin reached base three times on Monday and scored each time, collecting a pair of hits and a walk. In his first eight games this month, the utilityman has drawn five walks to go with his eight hits. He has done that while providing some defensive versatility, playing in center, left and at second base since being recalled.

“He’s maybe reaching that point where it’s kind of coming together for him at the major league level. But it’s not like make believe because he has proven it,” Baldelli said. “He has proven that he can do it at the minor league level at a very high level. … Then that shows you that what you’re seeing here might not be something that goes away. It might stay.”

Lewis reps Vikings

Royce Lewis wore a purple band around one arm and a yellow arm sleeve on the other, along with a yellow belt on Tuesday night. His accessories matched his custom-made Vikings cleats that he broke out on Monday night in honor of their season opener.

He plans to wear them on Vikings game days throughout the rest of the season and then perhaps frame the shoes once the season concludes.

“I’m adopting a football team,” the third baseman proclaimed. “I’ve always done fantasy football, so this is my first year being a Vikings fan, per se. Maybe last year, too. But I really like (Jordan) Addison and (Justin) Jefferson and what they’ve got going on over there.”

Briefly

Reliever Brooks Kriske cleared waivers and accepted his assignment to Triple-A. Kriske was designated for assignment over the weekend. … Taj Bradley will get the start for the series finale in Anaheim, Calif., on Wednesday afternoon. Bradley gave up four runs in five innings his last time out. … Byron Buxton was in the starting lineup Tuesday after missing Monday’s game following a hit by pitch in Sunday’s series finale in Kansas City.

A 15-year-old bicyclist was fatally struck by a vehicle last weekend in Coon Rapids, authorities say.

According to the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office, Isaiah Lewis Whitlock, of Ramsey, was driving a dirt bike on the sidewalk of Northdale Boulevard Northwest around 4:40 p.m. Sunday when he swerved onto the road at the Marigold Street Northwest. He was hit by a pickup truck heading in the opposite direction.

Whitlock was declared dead at the scene. The pickup driver, a 53-year-old Oak Grove man, was not injured.

The collision remains under investigation, the sheriff’s office said Tuesday.

Two other bicyclists were also killed last weekend in separate collisions with pickup trucks in central Minnesota.

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