Bridget Carleton hit consecutive 3-pointers to give the Minnesota Lynx the lead for good as they rattled off 17 unanswered points in a three-minute stretch of the fourth quarter on Sunday night to stun the Los Angeles Sparks 91-86 in Minneapolis.
Carleton connected with 1:10 remaining to put Minnesota (2-7) ahead at 84-83, then canned another trey with 32 seconds left for a four-point lead. Teammate Tiffany Mitchell added four straight free throws around a 3-pointer from Los Angeles’ Nneka Ogwumike to seal the outcome.
Napheesa Collier scored 24 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out six assists for the Lynx. Mitchell added 17 points, while Kayla McBride tallied 13 and reserve Nikolina Milic hit for 10 points.
Ogwumike fired in a game-high 27 points for the Sparks (4-4), while Lexie Brown scored 21 and Jordin Canada contributed 18 points and eight assists. Brown’s 3-pointer with 3:38 left gave Los Angeles an 83-72 advantage but it committed four turnovers during the game-changing run.
Minnesota earned a 38-26 rebounding advantage, ceding only two offensive boards, and canned 24 of 25 free-throw attempts.
On the night Minnesota retired the No. 34 of Sylvia Fowles, the Lynx played like she was still on the floor, at least early. They established a 13-4 lead just over five minutes into the game before Los Angeles finally found a rhythm and cut its deficit to 22-20 after a quarter.
Minnesota maintained the lead most of the second quarter, pushing it up to six on multiple occasions, before the Sparks wiped it out in the final two minutes of the half. Ogwumike sank a free throw with 24.1 seconds left to tie the score at 43 at intermission.
A 12-2 spurt midway through the third quarter gave Los Angeles its biggest lead of the period at 58-53 on a 3-pointer by Canada. The Lynx responded with a late surge, getting a runner from McBride in the last minute to draw within 64-62 going into the fourth.
–Field Level Media
