Kayla McBride scored a season-high 37 points, one shy of her career best, and rookie Olivia Miles added a franchise rookie-record 33 as the Minnesota Lynx rallied to beat the Phoenix Mercury 104-100 on Monday for their third straight win. Miles became the fastest player in WNBA history to reach 400 points, 100 rebounds, and 100 assists, doing it in 22 games.
Phoenix shot 55.6% early and led 75-69 entering the fourth quarter, becoming just the second team to score 100 points against Minnesota this season. Kahleah Copper‘s basket extended the lead to 77-69 in the opening minutes of the fourth, but the Lynx closed the game on a 35-23 run. Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said the shift came on offense rather than defense.
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“We had a stretch where our defense wasn’t helping us very much, so we shifted our mindset to, ‘If they score, we’ve got to score,'” Reeve said. “We found a couple of actions we liked that were getting Liv free and getting our shooters open. We made some great reads, made some great plays, and obviously the offense won the game today.”
Miles hit three 3-pointers early in the fourth to tighten the game before picking up her fourth foul and heading to the bench. Eliska Hamzová, a Czech rookie the Lynx elevated from a developmental deal to a seven-day contract last week, scored eight points in nine minutes off a bench that was otherwise held scoreless while Miles sat. Reeve said the stretch mattered as much as any shot Minnesota made.
“We haven’t talked enough about Hamzová. She was a huge key when Liv went out, and I think that really helped Liv,” Reeve said. “When Olivia came back, she was fresh, had her legs under her, and made some incredible plays down the stretch.”
Miles returned to hit a 3-pointer from 28 feet that put Minnesota ahead 80-79 with 7:14 left, part of a stretch in which she and McBride traded shots down the stretch. McBride’s sixth 3-pointer of the night gave the Lynx a 101-98 lead with 45.1 seconds left, and Miles found Natasha Howard for a layup to make it 103-100 before sealing it at the free-throw line. McBride said the two fed off each other all night.
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“I was feeling it early, and I think we found our groove, especially with Liv back in the lineup,” McBride said. “I keep telling my mom I average about 30 points when she’s here, so I’m trying to convince her to move to Minnesota. Sometimes the shots go in and sometimes they don’t. Tonight they were going in, so you maximize it.”
Miles said the run started with a challenge to McBride during a timeout.
“I was talking to Mac, and she said we needed to get the crowd involved. I told her, ‘Okay, hit a three for me,’ and after that we just started trading threes,” Miles said. “When the energy shifts in our favor, Target Center really shows up.”
McBride finished 11-of-17 from the field and 6-of-11 from 3-point range, her second career 35-point game. Miles shot 10-of-16 overall and 5-of-8 from deep for her first 30-point, five-assist game of the season, and the two became the first duo in Lynx history to each score at least 30 points in the same game. Howard finished with 13 points and seven assists. Minnesota made 24 of 26 free throws, its sixth time shooting at least 90% from the line this season and the 120th in franchise history.
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Copper led Phoenix (8-17) with 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting, and Alyssa Thomas nearly recorded a triple-double with 19 points, eight rebounds, and 12 assists. DeWanna Bonner and Monique Akoa Makani each scored 17. The Mercury have now lost four straight. Thomas said the finish continues to be the difference for Phoenix.
“It just came down to the little things late in the game that continue to be our Achilles’ heel and the difference between winning and losing,” Thomas said. “This is the make-or-break point of the season in terms of making that final push for a playoff spot. You need games like this to go your way in the closing minutes, and once again they didn’t.”
Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said the effort was a needed response after Phoenix’s blowout loss in Las Vegas.
“The biggest message today was that we wanted to compete and respond from what happened the other night,” Tibbetts said. “I’m really proud of our group. We had a good conversation this morning as a team, and we wanted to give ourselves a chance to win. We did that today.”
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Phoenix hosts the Connecticut Sun on Friday and Sunday. Minnesota hosts the Los Angeles Sparks on Wednesday.
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