WNBA semifinals: Sun stifle Lynx late, surge past Minnesota for 1-0 series lead

The Connecticut Sun swept the Minnesota Lynx in two games during the regular season.

With the stakes ramped up in Minnesota on Sunday, they beat them again in a 73-70 thriller to take a 1-0 series lead in the WNBA semifinals. Alyssa Thomas fell one assist short of a triple-double as Connecticut’s defense flustered the league’s best 3-point shooting team from the regular season.

After a back-and-forth opening few minutes, the Sun finished the first quarter with a 9-2 run to take a 21-14 lead into the second. The Lynx closed the gap to 42-38 by halftime and rode a 24-15 third-quarter advantage to a 62-57 lead heading into the game’s final stanza. By then, the game had already produced seven ties and 10 lead changes.

And the Sun weren’t done. They held the Lynx scoreless for the first 4:21 of the fourth quarter and retook the lead at 65-64. From there, the game resumed as a tense battle with multiple lead changes before the Sun took the lead for good at 69-68. Connecticut’s defense continued to throttle the Minnesota offense down the stretch while holding the Lynx to eight fourth-quarter points.

The game fittingly ended with Napheesa Collier missing a game-tying 3-point attempt at the buzzer as DeWanna Bonner blanketed here on the left wing.

Four Sun players scored in double figures in a balanced offensive effort led by Marina Mabrey. Mabrey tallied 20 points, five rebounds and three assists while shooting 6 of 11 from 3-point distance.