MINNEAPOLIS – The No. 1 seed Minnesota Lynx drew first blood against the No. 4 Phoenix Mercury by outscoring the visiting team 23-10 in the fourth quarter to take home a 82-69 victory in front of 10,121 at Target Center in Sunday afternoon’s Game 1 of the WNBA’s best-of-five semifinal series.
The first quarter was filled with all offense and very little defense for both teams. Phoenix forward Alyssa Thomas opened the scoring with a layup. Lynx forward Napheesa Collier responded with a three-pointer to give Minnesota the 3-2 lead. Mercury center Natasha Mack made a layup to give her team the lead, and then it went back to Minnesota when Lynx guard Kayla McBride hit a jump shot. Mack make a layup to tip the scales back to Phoenix, then Collier’s three-pointer put it in favor of Minnesota. Thomas made a layup and the game was tied 8-8 with 5:58 left in the first quarter. Practically every basket that was made by one team was answered by one from the other.
Phoenix forward Satou Sabally made two free throws after getting fouled by Lynx forward Bridget Carleton. A layup by Collier tied it back up again at 10-10. Mercury guard Monique Akoa Makani’s layup broke the tie, but McBride’s layup evened it up again. Collier made a shot to put the Lynx up by two, then Lynx forward Alanna Smith blocked Thomas’s layup attempt and made a layup of her own on the other end to give Minnesota a 16-12 lead with 4:03 left in the opening quarter.
The lead didn’t last as Sabally made a reverse layup, and then a driving layup on the next possession and the game was tied again 16-16. Minnesota guard Courtney Williams and Thomas exchanged layups. Williams made a midrange jumper, which was answered by a Sabally layup and the game was tied 20-20. McBride made two free throws after getting fouled by Akoa Makoni and the official’s timeout occurred with the Lynx having a two-point lead with 1:16 left on the clock.
Phoenix guard Kahleah Copper made her first shot of the game when play resumed, and Thomas gave the Mercury a two-point lead on a put back layup after a missed three point attempt by guard Sami Whitcomb. The score was 24-22 in favor of the Mercury at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter was somewhat slower than the previous one. Both teams missed early shots but the Lynx turned the ball over a few times, though the Mercury were unable to capitalize on the extra possessions.
Whitcomb started off the scoring with a layup to extend the Mercury lead to four points. It was answered with a layup from Lynx forward Jessica Shepard. Sabally made a layup. Courtney Williams hit a three-pointer to cut the Lynx deficit to one point. Whitcomb’s jump shot pulled the Mercury back up to three, and then McBride’s three-pointer tied it up 30-30 with 7:30 left until halftime.
Thomas and Whitcomb made layups to put the Mercury back up by four points, but a three-pointer by McBride cut it back to one. Thomas answered with a layup and the Lynx called timeout. Phoenix led 36-33 with 5:25 left until halftime.
Copper and Hiedeman exchanged three-pointers. Courtney Williams then stole the ball from DeWanna Bonner and took it to the basket for a fast break layup to cut the Lynx deficit to one. However, Phoenix then went on an 8-0 run as Thomas and Copper each scored two layups. Courtney Williams ended the half with a layup of her own. Phoenix led 47-40 at halftime.
The first minute of the second half began with both teams turning the ball over and missing shots. Then Courtney Williams hit a midrange jump shot to cut the Lynx deficit to five points but the Mercury were forced to call timeout right away because of an injury to Akoa Makani. It was 47-42 in favor of Phoenix with 8:38 left in the third quarter.
Courtney Williams and Copper exchanged jump shots. Lynx guard Natisha Hiedeman and Mack traded layups. Whitcomb hit a floating jump shot while McBride made two free throws after getting fouled by Bonner. The margin remained at five, 53-48, and now there was 4:25 left in the quarter.
Williams made a layup and was fouled by Thomas but missed the free throw. Phoenix lead was now three points. Collier made a put back layup following a missed three-point attempt by Hiedeman. Now the Mercury lead was cut to one-point. After Copper missed a running layup, which McBride rebounded, Collier scored a layup to give the Lynx the one-point lead. Copper responded with a layup. Collier answered with a jump shot. Copper then made a reverse layup. Collier nailed a jump shot. It was Minnesota’s 58-57 lead with 46.2 second remaining in the third quarter.
Thomas went in for a driving layup. As she was driving, she switched hands on the dribble and reached behind her with the off-ball arm and elbowed Hiedeman in the face. The basket counted but the play was under review. Thomas was assessed a technical foul on the play. McBride made the free throw, which tied the game at 59-59, which was the score when the quarter ended half a minute later.
The technical foul on Thomas fired up the Lynx players and the Target Center crowd. When the fourth quarter began, the Lynx elevated their play to a higher level. Carleton made a jump shot to open the scoring in the frame. McBride then hit a three-pointer and suddenly the Lynx found themselves on top by five. Copper responded with a three-pointer, but Courtney Williams answered with a jump shot and Alanna Smith scored a layup. It was 68-62 when Phoenix called timeout with 6:31 left on the clock.
The Mercury regrouped as Sabally made two free throws after getting fouled by Carleton, and Whitcomb made a three-pointer cut the Phoenix deficit to one-point, 68-67 with 5:11 left in the game.
The Lynx closed out the game on a 14-2 run in the final 5:11 of play. Courtney Williams hit a midrange jump shot. McBride and Carleton hit three-pointers. Williams scored a layup. Lynx forward Maria Kliundikova was able to come off the bench to score two key layups in the final stretch along with three rebounds, a steal and win a jump ball to help seal the Lynx victory. Copper’s layup at the 1:11 mark was the only scoring for Phoenix. When the final buzzer sounded, Minnesota won 82-69.
Minnesota went 34-for-77 (44.2 percent) from the field; 9-for-29 (31.0 percent) from three-point range; and 5-for-6 (83.3 percent) from the free throw line. They committed 12 turnovers for 13 Mercury points.
“It was a great game. I thought both teams did a lot of things that they wanted to get done,” said Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve. “Now we go look at some things and obviously Tuesday’s game will be just as hard.”
Phoenix went 31-for-75 (41.3 percent) from the field; 3-for-23 (13.0 percent) from three-point range; and 4-for-4 (100.0 percent) from the charity stripe. They committed 10 turnovers leading to 11 Lynx points.
“They really did a good job defensively in the second half. They turned it up at the end. Obviously we didn’t shoot it very well. They did what they were supposed to do – win Game One,” said Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts. “I was proud of our effort. I think we played three really good quarters and they just really turned it up in the fourth.”
Phoenix led in 54-40 in points-in-the-paint; but Minnesota held the 20-5 advantage in second chance points and 15-10 edge in fast break points. Both teams tied 11-11 in bench scoring. There were nine ties and 15 lead changes. The Mercury’s largest lead was nine compared to 13 for Minnesota.
“They problem solve together. They don’t finger point. Think about the worst moments of the game for us, which was most of the first half,” said Reeve. “You didn’t go into the locker room blaming. They went right into listening and ‘what can we do?’”
The Lynx were led by 23 points from Courtney Williams. Kayla McBride added 21 points and Napheesa Collier pitched in for 18 points. Williams led the team in assists with seven while Collier pulled down a team-leading nine rebounds.
The Mercury were led Kahleah Copper’s 22 points. Alyssa Thomas pitched in with 18 points Sami Whitcomb added 11 and Satou Sabally chipped in 10 more. DeWanna Bonner led Phoenix with nine rebounds and Thomas dished a team-high seven assists.
“They made adjustments. I still think we had a lot of open shots. I felt it was similar to last series where we just didn’t hit open ones,” said Thomas. “That’s the beauty of a series. We’ll go back , watch the video and see what we can do better.”
The Lynx lead the best-of-five series 1-0. The Lynx host Game 2 at Target Center Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. CT before the series moves to Phoenix. The winner of this series will play the winner of the No. 2 Las Vegas Aces versus No. 6 seed Indiana Fever. The Fever lead that series 1-0.
