It was far from a pretty win for the Lynx.

Minnesota defeated the Washington Mystics 74-67 on Saturday at Target Center without its MVP and defensive player of the year candidate Napheesa Collier, but Courtney Williams stepped up in her absence.

Williams nearly matched her 10-point scoring average with a nine-point first quarter and ended the game with 17 points, seven assists and six rebounds, and a game-high plus-minus of 16. Kayla McBride added 17 points and Bridget Carleton had 13 points and six rebounds.

“We had to give this a little bit more missing [Collier], that’s 20 [points] and 10 [rebounds],” Williams said. “And that’s just the stats alone. She does so much more for our team. So, we got to be able to come in and just give a little bit more, whatever that looks like.”

Collier reaggravated a foot injury Thursday against Connecticut. She leads the Lynx (15-6) with averages of 20 points, 10.2 rebounds and 2.2 steals and is averaging 3.7 assists and 1.5 blocks.

Minnesota, one of the best first-quarter scoring teams in the WNBA and the league’s top-ranked defense, owned a 25-14 lead after the opening quarter in which it forced the Mystics into seven turnovers.

But the Lynx followed with one of their lowest-scoring quarters this season, scoring nine points on 5-of-21 shooting from the field and 1 of 10 on 3-pointers. The Mystics put up 22 points to tie the game at 36 heading into halftime.

“We were settling for open shots,” Bridget Carleton said. “We had good looks, it’s not like we can’t knock those shots down. But we know when things aren’t going, we have to be aggressive in the paint… Finding the balance between both things, not just settling.”

Despite the absence of their leading rebounder, the Lynx outrebounded Washington 38-32. Lynx forward Dorka Juhasz led all players with 11 rebounds in 23 minutes and Alanna Smith had eight rebounds.

Smith came into the matchup making 47.7% of her 3-pointers, second-best in the league. She shot an uncharacteristic 2 of 11 from the field and 0 of 3 from distance and finished with seven points.

“I told her I appreciated her playing and getting it out the way that she did because she wasn’t [shooting] well,” head coach Cheryl Reeve said. “And the two blocks that she had were huge. She’s a competitor, and didn’t hang her head.”

Smith made a difference with her defense in the fourth quarter, however. WIth the Lynx leading 65-60 with 6:48 to play, Smith blocked Ariel Atkins’ short jumper. With 3:44 left and the Lynx up 70-64, she rejected Stefanie Dolson’s layup attempt.

Carleton came through with seven timely points in the third. But she picked up four fouls within seven minutes, taking her out of the game just as she began to find her rhythm. Carleton picked up her final foul early in the fourth.

“I thought she gave us an aggression about us and the third quarter that we were lacking earlier,” Reeve said. “She made some big shots like she’s been doing all season.”

Playing a career-high 10 minutes in her first appearance since June 22, rookie forward Alissa Pili’s 3-pointer early in the fourth gave the Lynx a 58-57 lead.

Minnesota scored 19 points to Washington’s 10 points on 4-of-18 shooting in the fourth.

Minnesota shot 38.6% on 27-of-70 shooting from the field for the game. Washington ended the game hitting 41.7% of its shots after shooting 52% in the first half — a significant decrease due to the Lynx’s added pressure in the second half.

Briefly

Smith was named to the Australian women’s national team that will compete in the Paris Olympics on Saturday. She was also a member of the team for the 2020 Tokyo Games. Smith is averaging career-highs in points (12.1), rebounds (5.0) and assists (3.2) and is second in the WNBA in 3-point shooting at 47.7% (31 of 65).

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One would assume that after being traded by the Twins on May 2 that Matt Bowman was more than a little surprised to find himself in a Saints uniform over Fourth of July weekend.

Not so, the veteran reliever said on Saturday prior to the Saints’ 4-1 loss to the Gwinnett Stripers at CHS Field.

“I really enjoyed my time here,” Bowman said, “and when they jettisoned me, they made it clear that they’d love to have me back. So it was always in the back of my mind. I left my car here, I left a bunch of my stuff here.

“So somewhere in my mind I knew maybe I would come back.”

The 33-year-old Bowman has pitched for six major league teams since breaking in with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2016. The Twins signed him to a minor league contract in January and he began the season with the Saints.

He was called up by the Twins on April 13 and made five appearances before being designated for assignment on April 30. Bowman was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks, only to be designated for assignment again three weeks later. After clearing waivers, he declined joining Arizona’s Triple-A team and became a free agent.

Bowman signed a minor league contract with the Seattle Mariners on June 4 and was called up to the majors five days later. Two days after that, he was designated for assignment once again and opted for free agency.

This time, however, he elected to sign a new minor league deal with the Mariners. On July 1, he elected to use his opt-out clause and became a free agent.

“Definitely different,” Bowman said of the past couple eventful months. “Different obstacles than I’ve experienced before. But after the first time switching, going to the Diamondbacks, and realizing what it’s like switching organizations in midseason, I felt like, OK, I understand this.”

While it’s true that Bowman has been living out of a suitcase, he said that’s not unusual for him.

“Mostly, it’s so many names to learn,” he said. “I let like I was playing catch-up coming to the Twins — I always like to know everyone’s names and be respectful that way. Eventually I had to give up and give every organization 10-12 names, and that’s all I’ve got.”

Bowman said he is happy to be back in the Twins organization.

“You go through spring training and you sort of learn the ways of an organization,” he said. “You try to tailor yourself to do that. And I felt there was synergy between the way I wanted to pitch and the way the Twins like people to pitch.

“I feel comfortable with their process.”

Bowman missed 2021 and 2022 seasons following Tommy John surgery, so a case can be made that he is a “young” 33, with a lot left to offer.

“I’ve never been a hard thrower,” he said, “but in terms of how my stuff is moving and how hard I’m throwing and how comfortable I’m feeling, I’m old for this game, but I don’t feel old.”

And with two months remaining in the major league season, the possibility remains that Bowman could again wear a Twins uniform in 2024.

“I think it’s the same as before,” Bowman said. “As they see a need, as you perform well, as you plug in to the bullpen up there. In addition to liking the process they have for pitchers here, they did call me up very quickly at the start of the season.

“So there is that aspect of trust.”

Briefly

The Saints managed only two hits in Saturday’s loss, their only run coming on four walks in the first inning. … Jordan Balazovic, once one of the top pitching prospects in the Twins organization, is no longer with Saints after he signed with Doosan of the KBO League.

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St. Paul Public Schools is several months late to submit an independent audit of its 2023 finances to the state of Minnesota, and the review likely won’t be done till September.

The late audit — the second time in two years — could hurt the district’s bond rating, increasing the cost of future borrowing. And, while it hasn’t happened before, the missed deadline could also put state funding in jeopardy.

Such pressures would mean more financial trouble for a district that already had to cut $114 million from its budget this year and anticipates more spending cuts down the road; so far, however, the late audit hasn’t brought any serious consequences.

The district also missed a March 30 deadline for a federal audit, which could affect how the U.S. Department of Education decides to award grants in the future.

The district had never missed a state audit deadline before doing so last year, according to the state education department.

District officials blame staff turnover, a switch to a new accounting firm and the complex nature of the district’s finances — though larger and similarly sized districts have completed their audits.

Meanwhile, state officials say more broadly that a shortage of accountants has caused headaches for many local governments who need their books checked.

The Minnesota Department of Education requires school districts and charter schools to get independent audits to demonstrate financial accountability and improve decision-making for other government agencies. Audits for the previous fiscal year, which ends June 30, are due by Dec. 31.

MDE hasn’t withheld state aid for late audits before and doesn’t plan to take any action with the St. Paul district, according to department spokesman Kevin Burns.

In other states, however, education departments have taken action. In June, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction withheld money from Milwaukee Public Schools for failing to produce an audit that was due in September 2023. District officials there cited staffing trouble but said little else about why the audit was late, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Julie Blaha, State Auditor. (Courtesy of Julie Blaha)

Minnesota State Auditor Julie Blaha said it would take about nine months without an audit before a district is considered a risk under standard accounting practices.

Blaha, whose office oversees $60 billion in local government spending, said a district failing to meet a deadline doesn’t point to any sort of wrongdoing.

“A late audit, in and of itself, is not proof of a problem,” she said. “It is evidence of a risk.”

Transparency concerns

After a long history of timely reporting, the district last year submitted its 2022 audit in March, three months late.

The 2023 audit was supposed to have been presented at the school board’s July 16 meeting, but it was pushed back to as late as September, according to the district’s budget chief Tom Sager, who was hired in September 2022 as then-Superintendent Joe Gothard removed longtime budget chief Marie Schrul.

Then-St. Paul Schools Superintendent Joe Gothard accepts the national superintendent of the year award from the American Association of School Administrators at the group’s annual conference in San Diego, Calif., on Feb. 15, 2024, (Courtesy AASA, The School Superintendents Association)

Among parents and other observers, the late audits raised concerns about transparency and fiscal responsibility as the school board last month adopted a billion-dollar budget for the second year in a row.

Arleen Schilling, who worked in the school district finance office for three decades before retiring as controller in 2022, said a lack of final numbers more than a year after the 2023 fiscal year ended leaves taxpayers in the dark.

“The public has no way of seeing how the money’s been spent at this point in time, because there is no information out there available,” she said. “There are no audited financial statements.”

It’s a departure from how the district operated in the past, said Schilling, who noted the district would routinely earn recognition from the Department of Education for its timely and accurate reporting.

Sager said he doesn’t expect the audit will make any major changes to the overall budget picture. The district submitted preliminary numbers to the state late last year, though they included a note stating they were subject to change pending an audit. He did, however, acknowledge the district wasn’t following state law.

“Anytime a school district or municipality steps out of line with what’s required, that’s just not healthy and good, morally, ethically or legally,” he said. “It’s not anything we would want to continue on with.”

The district, by law, also had to pass a budget by June 30, with or without a completed audit, Sager said.

Community and school board members also expressed transparency concerns with that budget, which didn’t provide specific details on how spending cuts would affect school programs.

While Sager doesn’t expect the audit to dramatically change the school district’s budget picture, Schilling pointed out that a change of just a few million dollars could put the district below its threshold for rainy-day funds.

The district had to dip into its reserves this year in order to balance a billion-dollar budget without more cuts, leaving around $35 million — just above the 5% reserve threshold set by the school board.

School districts keep cash in reserve in the event of funding interruptions or unforeseen expenses. The current reserve would cover about 18 days of district expenses, according to district budget documents.

What’s to blame?

Parents wave to their kids as a school bus drives off to Chelsea Heights Elementary on the first day of school in St. Paul on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2019. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

St. Paul is one of four school districts in Minnesota that had an unfinished audit as of late June, according to the state education department. The others were Hopkins, Robbinsdale and Butterfield, plus 10 charter schools across the state.

So, why the trouble? Sager pointed to staff turnover and the hiring of a new audit firm two years ago.

The district used to work with Baker Tilly. Sager said the district is still figuring out its workflow with the new firm, CliftonLarsonAllen, though he said he’s very pleased with their work so far.

Despite the late audit last year and this year’s ongoing delay, Sager said he expects audits to go more smoothly in the future as staffing stabilizes and the district continues to work with its new accounting firm.

Schilling agreed that turnover likely has been the biggest contributor to the accounting delays.

“St. Paul is a much bigger district than any other district, so in order to understand the finance of it, you need people with experience,” she said.

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