Kayla McBride scored a season-high 31 points on 10-for-12 shooting and matched her career best of six three-pointers to help lead the visiting Minnesota Lynx to a 92-79 win over the Atlanta Dream on Sunday.
Napheesa Collier added 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Lynx, while Alanna Smith chipped in 17 points. Minnesota (4-1) won its second game in as many nights after Saturday’s victory over the Liberty.
Rhyne Howard led the Dream (2-2) with 23 points, followed by Tina Charles’ 14. Cheyenne Parker-Tyus tallied 10 points and eight rebounds before fouling out for Atlanta, which has dropped two of three.
After leading by four at halftime, Minnesota saw its advantage cut in half on Howard’s pullup jumper with 9:20 left in the third quarter.
From there, the Lynx used a 19-4 run — capped with McBride’s three-pointer — to take a 70-53 lead with 5:21 left in the third.
A pair of Collier free throws extended Minnesota’s lead to 77-59, which it held entering the final quarter.
Trailing 81-63 in the fourth, Atlanta trimmed the deficit with five straight points from Aerial Powers. Parker-Tyus added a layup, cutting Minnesota’s lead to 81-70 with 4:34 remaining.
Once again, McBride stymied the run, knocking down her sixth three-pointer to push the lead back to 14 with 4:16 remaining.
Looking to make a late run, Naz Hillmon’s triple cut Atlanta’s deficit to 84-75, but a pair of Collier free throws and another McBride bucket capped the Minnesota win.
Bridget Carleton’s triple gave the Lynx their largest lead of the first quarter at 20-13 with 4:32 remaining, but Atlanta got the deficit down to 28-25 entering the second.
From there, McBride’s floater gave the Lynx a 32-27 lead, before Crystal Dangerfield’s 3-pointer and Powers’ mid-range jumper knotted the score with 8:23 left in the first half.
Minutes later, Courtney Williams’ jumper gave Minnesota a four-point lead, but Howard’s triple and Powers’ layup returned the lead to the Dream, giving them a 39-38 advantage.
Still facing a one-point deficit, Collier and Natisha Hiedeman each scored to give Minnesota a 48-45 lead with 58.3 seconds left.
Charles then connected on a layup before McBride’s trey extended Minnesota’s halftime lead to 51-47.
–Field Level Media
