Lynx beat New York Liberty in finals rematch

When last we saw the Minnesota Lynx and the New York Liberty together on the court nine months ago it was Battle of the WNBA finals a contest where a late traveling non-call followed by a questionable defensive foul went against the Lynx and the title went to New York For whatever reason the WNBA schedule-makers did not pit the two teams against one another this season until Wednesday the first of four games against one another in a -day span including three straight from Aug - It was well worth the wait for Lynx fans Napheesa Collier scored points and added nine rebounds in a long-awaited rematch and the Lynx beat New York - inside Target Center It s been so long it doesn t feel like a finals rematch Maybe if the schedule was different and we played them in the beginning of the year but now it just feels like two really good teams going against each other Collier stated Kayla McBride made five of Minnesota s season-high -pointers as part of a -point night and the Lynx - have a five-game lead over New York for the WNBA s best record It s fun to compete at a high level with the second-best unit in the league that s what you want especially at home McBride revealed Point guard Courtney Williams struggled with her shot - but had a career high-tying assists grabbed nine rebounds and had just one turnover She just didn t make shots Everything else she did was really good coach Cheryl Reeve noted Courtney s long been one of the best rebounding guards in the league but when she really really gets locked in you see what you saw tonight where she s elevating above bigs to reach for rebounds that are at the top When she s doing that it s so good for us and I know she s in a great place Courtney is just a hooper added McBride The highly anticipated tournament lived up to the massive hype that included the SportsCenter s States in Days tour making its Minnesota stop Fans were excited to see this matchup and I think they were treated to a heck of a basketball encounter Great for ESPN as well Reeve reported Collier is the Lynx superstar but the national broadcast was far from Phee s show Alanna Smith scored points Bridget Carleton had a trio of treys as part of her -point outing and Natisha Hiedeman came off the bench to provide an early fourth-quarter spark with eight of her points New York scored the final seven points of the third quarter to get within six but back-to-back s from Hiedeman and a layup off a Jessica Shepard feed pushed the Lynx lead to - Shepard who Reeve declared was terrific also grabbed seven rebounds off the bench That was a common theme Minnesota responded every time New York went on a bit of a run Preponderance importantly it did so very late Sabrina Ionescu and Marine Johann s scored from deep and followed by Isabelle Harrison scoring low the Liberty were within four with left With nearly everyone in the sellout crowd of rising to their feet Collier scored on a scoop around Harrison and added the free-throw to complete a -point play for a - lead with seconds left McBride made three late free throws and Williams two to ice the win More than anything it was great to show our resilience once again because teams are going to go on runs They re a really great club they re going to do that but the fact that we were able to hold them off and still win the meeting tells a lot about us as well Collier stated Ionescu led the Liberty with points New York - which has lost three in a row played without All-Star forward Breanna Stewart who missed her second straight match with a right knee bone bruise Related Articles Lynx dig too deep of hole to climb out of against Dream Lynx dominate Las Vegas Aces with another full association effort Lynx s Courtney Williams loves these sneaks but gets fined for wearing them Lynx start slow before routing Sky Lynx Phee makes WNBA All-Star Encounter her own