Napheesa Collier scored 29 points, Kayla McBride added 21 and the Minnesota Lynx held off the Wings 91-86 on Tuesday in Minneapolis to snap Dallas’ three-game winning streak.
Both Collier and McBride sank a pair of late free throws after the Lynx (16-17) nearly squandered a 12-point lead in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.
Dallas trailed 81-69 with 2:31 to play but roared back and pulled within a point on Arike Ogunbowale’s step-back 3-pointer from the left corner that made it 87-86 with 19.6 seconds left.
McBride drained two foul shots on the other end for Minnesota, and Ogunbowale’s attempt to tie from the same spot was off the mark.
Collier tacked on two more free throws to seal the win for the Lynx, who shot 11 of 25 from 3-point range and 12 of 15 at the foul line. Minnesota has alternated losses and wins for six games.
Ogunbowale finished with 20 points and scored her 3,000th for her career when she banked in a 3-pointer late in the second quarter. The fifth-year star notched the feat in her 150th career game, the second fewest in WNBA history behind the Mystics’ Elena Delle Donne, who achieved it in 148.
The Wings (18-15) also got 22 points from Satou Sabally, 16 from Natasha Howard and 12 from Crystal Dangerfield. Teaira McCowan hit for 10 points and grabbed a game-high 16 boards as Dallas outrebounded Minnesota 41-28.
Reserve forward Bridget Carleton supplied 14 points and shot 4 of 6 from long distance for the Lynx, who owned a 25-6 advantage in bench points.
The Wings led 9-4 just over five minutes in before Minnesota found its stroke and rattled off 18 of the game’s next 20 points to sprint ahead 22-11 early in the second period.
Dallas was shooting just 26 percent from the field with 6:30 left in the second quarter before it drilled nine straight shots and climbed ahead 36-32 on Ogunbowale’s milestone triple at the 1:43 mark.
Carleton punctuated an electric first half with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer off one leg from the right corner that put the Lynx ahead 39-36 entering the break.
Minnesota shot 6 of 14 from 3-point range and assisted on all but one of its 16 baskets in the first half.
The teams reconvene for the fourth and final time this season on Thursday in Arlington, Texas.
–Field Level Media
