Napheesa Collier poured in 33 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as the Minnesota Lynx downed the Seattle Storm 104-93 in Minneapolis on Tuesday.
Kayla McBride and Diamond Miller supplied 18 points apiece, while Lindsay Allen contributed 11 points and nine assists. Dorka Juhasz added 10 points and pulled down 12 rebounds for the Lynx (5-9).
Ezi Magbegor and Sami Whitcomb led the Storm (4-10) with 20 points apiece. Jewell Loyd had 14 points and nine rebounds and Ivana Dojkic contributed 14 points and nine assists. Joyner Holmes added 11 points and eight rebounds and Kia Nurse chipped in 10 points.
The Lynx dominated the paint, outscoring the Storm 54-32 inside. Minnesota led most of the way, with Seattle’s biggest lead being two points.
The teams will have a rematch on the Storm’s home floor on Thursday.
The Lynx finished the first quarter on a 19-4 run to take a 35-20 lead. McBride sparked the outburst with a pair of 3-pointers.
Trailing by 17 with seven minutes left in the half, the Storm rallied with 11 straight points. They hit three 3-pointers during that span, capped by Loyd’s 25-footer.
Collier answered with a 3-pointer, kicking off a 9-0 Minnesota spurt. Juhasz made two layups to cap it off.
Seattle then finished the half on a 9-0 run, including four points from Dojkic. That cut Minnesota’s advantage to 53-47 at the break.
The Lynx pushed the lead to double digits again at 68-56 with a Collier 3-pointer. The Storm whittled Minnesota’s advantage to five two minutes later on a Loyd 3-pointer.
Holmes made a layup in the final minute of the third as Seattle trailed 80-74 heading into the fourth.
The Storm failed to get closer as the quarter unfolded, however. Collier hit the 30-point mark with 7:38 left on a fadeaway jumper to make it 91-79.
Collier followed that up with a three-point play. Whitcomb cut the Lynx’s advantage to single digits again on a layup with a minute to go, but by then it was too late.
–Field Level Media
