Playing on back-to-back nights, the Lynx beat a well-rested team to improve to a WNBA-best 17-2 this season.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
Lynx star Napheesa Collier celebrates after a play in the fourth quarter on Sunday night against the Sky at Target Center. (Rebecca Villagracia/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
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Early in the day Sunday came the news: For the second time in her career and for the first in her time with the Lynx, Courtney Williams was a WNBA All-Star.
Honestly, she almost missed it. She got a call from Commissioner Cathy Engelbert but didn’t take it because she didn’t recognize the number. Williams answered the second time and, after Engelbert introduced herself, said, “Cathy who?”
But, a few hours later, all sorted out, Williams went out and played like the newly minted All-Star she is in an 80-75 Lynx victory over the Chicago Sky.
“She was like, ‘You’re an All-Star,’” Williams said. “I said, ‘No, ain’t no way you’re calling my phone saying that.’”
So, to celebrate, on a night when the Lynx — playing their fifth game in eight nights against a Sky team that had been off for a week — very much needed it, Williams went off.
She matched her season high with 25 points. She made 10 of 17 shots, including 2-for-5 on three-pointers, to go with eight rebounds and six assists.
“So I told her, ‘Playing like an All-Star is good,’” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. To be honest, Reeve — who will coach team Caitlin Clark at the All-Star Game — was disappointed only Napheesa Collier and Williams were headed to the game in Indianapolis from a team that, now 17-2, has a 4½-game lead over the rest of the WNBA.
A tired-looking Lynx team fell behind 24-10 after one quarter. But the Lynx stepped up both the defense and the scoring in a 28-13 second quarter in which Williams scored seven. Then she had 11 in the third, as that lead grew to four. Williams’ three with 4:10 left in the game put the Lynx up six.
It was a gritty performance, the fifth regular-season victory in a row for the Lynx.
“It’s all about mental toughness,” Williams said. “Your body is going to do what your mind is telling it to do. So, if you come into the game saying, ‘Oh, I’m tired,’ you’re already setting yourself up for failure. We don’t make any excuses.”
They do make adjustments. After scoring 18 points in the paint and shooting 11-for-20 while taking a 14-point lead after a quarter, the Sky (5-12) shot 18-for-58 and had only 18 paint points the rest of the way.
And if all five Sky starters were in double figures — led by Angel Reese’s 16-point, 17-rebound effort — it felt like the Lynx had the deepest team.
Napheesa Collier scored 21 points, going 5-for-5 on free throws. She has made 45 consecutive free throws, a franchise record. Diamond Miller scored 10 points with five rebounds, twice blocking Reese.
“Diamond, again, was a force,” Reeve said.
The Sky wouldn’t go away down the stretch. Former Gophers and Lynx guard Rachel Banham scored 20 points, making six of 10 three-pointers. Banham’s sixth make, with 22.5 seconds left, made it a two-point game. At the other end Kayla McBride made one of two free throws for a three-point lead. Alanna Smith blocked Banham’s final three-point try, then Collier iced the game with two free throws with 8.1 seconds left.
It wasn’t a thing of beauty from start to finish. But it was yet another victory for a team that continues to top the standings.
Reeve has been around a lot of winning teams. Four WNBA titles, Olympic gold. She was asked after the game if she saw that kind of greatness in this team.
“One thousand percent,” she said. “It’s hard to do. I can tell you we’ve got it. I can’t guarantee a championship. But I’ve been around a lot of high-quality teams. We have the special things those teams had. We have talent. We definitely have the talent, and we have a growing bench.”
