The visiting Minnesota Lynx continued their dominance of the New York Liberty this season with an 88-79 win Sunday.
Five different Lynx players finished in double figures, led by Bridget Carleton with 19 points, including five 3-pointers. Napheesa Collier had 18 points and 13 rebounds for the Lynx.
Breanna Stewart had a season-high 38 points and a career-high-tying 18 rebounds for the Liberty.
In the final two regular-season games, New York (31-7) just needs one win or one Lynx loss to clinch the top seed in the WNBA playoffs. The Lynx (29-9) are holding on to the second seed by 1 1/2 games over the Connecticut Sun, pending the Sun’s game with the Las Vegas Aces Sunday night.
While the Liberty have been the best team in the WNBA most of the season, they have struggled against the Lynx, losing three of four meetings, including the Commissioner’s Cup championship game.
Minnesota built the lead to 26 points — the largest lead any team has had on the Liberty this season — but had to sweat out the fourth quarter as the Liberty made a strong charge.
New York cut the lead to 80-72 on a Stewart triple with 4:39 left. Kayla McBride answered with a long 3 from the wing for the Lynx with 3:25 left. Sabrinia Ionescu made a free throw with 56.1 seconds left to make it 85-77, but Minnesota closed it out from there.
The Lynx are the only team to win the season series against the Liberty this season.
Minnesota took it to the Liberty early, racing out to a 16-6 lead in the first five minutes with Carleton hitting the first of her four 3-pointers in the first half.
Carleton added another trey with 8:54 left in the second quarter to put the Lynx ahead 35-18.
New York closed the gap in the second, with Jonquel Jones scoring the Liberty’s first eight points of the quarter. Stewart led the Liberty with 16 first-half points.
The Lynx led 52-39 at halftime. They finished the half shooting 55.3 percent from the floor and outrebounded the Liberty 19-11.
Minnesota opened the second half with 11 straight points with Courtney Williams sinking a pair of mid-range jumpers in the run.
–Field Level Media