Napheesa Collier scored 23 points and grabbed 14 rebounds and the Minnesota Lynx held on for a 73-60 win over the visiting Phoenix Mercury on Saturday night in Minneapolis.
Alanna Smith contributed 14 points for Minnesota (13-3), which won its sixth game in a row. Courtney Williams finished with 12 points and nine boards for the Lynx.
Natasha Cloud scored 14 points to lead Phoenix (8-8). Rebecca Allen scored 11 and Brittney Griner had 10 to go along with seven rebounds.
Minnesota shot 41.9 percent (26 of 62) from the field and 36.4 percent (8 of 22) from beyond the arc. The Mercury shot 31.1 percent (23 of 74) overall and 20.6 percent (7 of 34) from 3-point range.
Phoenix outscored the Lynx 19-13 in the fourth quarter, but by then it was too late.
Williams put Minnesota on top by 20 points with 5:51 to go when she made a pull-up jump shot.
The Lynx led 60-41 at the end of the third quarter.
A driving layup by Cloud brought the Mercury within 46-39 with 3:52 remaining in the third. Allen got the assist on the basket.
Collier responded 13 seconds later with a 3-pointer that triggered a 14-2 Minnesota run to finish the quarter. The Lynx tallied five points in the final 40 seconds on a 3-pointer by Dorka Juhasz and a pull-up jumper by Williams.
Minnesota led 38-25 at the half. Collier (13 points) and Smith (11) accounted for nearly the same number of points as Phoenix’s entire team before the break.
The Lynx outscored the Mercury 21-10 in the second quarter to seize a double-digit advantage.
Cloud made a layup to cut Phoenix’s deficit to 23-19 with 6:01 to go in the first half.
Minnesota responded by closing the second quarter on a 15-6 run.
Kayla McBride punctuated the run by draining a 3-pointer with 0.2 seconds remaining off an assist by Williams. McBride got the ball on the left wing and released a quick shot that swished through the net.
The Lynx improved to 2-1 against the Mercury this season.
–Field Level Media
