Olivia Miles scored 20 points and dished seven assists before leaving with an ankle injury, Kayla McBride hit three key hoops late in the game and the Minnesota Lynx continued their two-year mastery of the Golden State Valkyries with a 77-66 victory on Wednesday in San Francisco.
McBride also totaled 20 points and Napheesa Collier had 18 points and a game-high eight rebounds for the first-place Lynx (30-7), who increased their lead over the second-place Valkyries (25-10) to four games.
The clubs will meet in a rematch Monday in Minneapolis, where the Lynx will seek a 10th consecutive all-time victory in the rivalry, counting the regular season and the postseason.
En route to its fifth consecutive win, Minnesota used a stingy defense and a combined 21 first-half points from Collier and Miles to gradually pull away from the Valkyries, building a 41-26 lead by the break.
The Valkyries scored just 13 points in each of the first two periods.
Minnesota led by as many as 22 points before Golden State finally got its offense rolling late in the third period. The hosts used a 13-2 run bridging the third and fourth quarters to get within seven on two occasions early in the final quarter, but McBride countered each time with a basket.
Miles scored her final points on a jumper that gave Minnesota a 63-52 edge with 5:06 remaining in the fourth, then inadvertently stepped on the foot of teammate Collier on the Lynx’s next possession and had to be helped to the bench.
Seeking a seventh straight win, the Valkyries were still within 69-61 at the 3:00 mark of the fourth quarter, but again McBride came through, burying a 3-pointer that allowed the visitors to coast home.
Miles, who shot 1-for-10 in her most recent meeting with the Valkyries, nailed 8 of 10 field-goal attempts this time around, including 3 of 5 from 3-point range. Both teams connected on seven shots from beyond the arc, but it took Golden State 18 more attempts (37-19).
Courtney Williams chipped in with nine points and seven assists as Minnesota registered its 15th win in 16 games.
Janelle Salaun had all of her team-high 15 points in the second half for the Valkyries, who shot just 32.5% overall to go with 18.9% success rate on 3-point attempts.
Veronica Burton contributed 14 points, seven assists and four steals to the Golden State cause. Tiffany Hayes added 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds, and Gabby Williams scored 10 points.
–Field Level Media
