Napheesa Collier scored 23 points and grabbed 14 rebounds and the Minnesota Lynx held on for a 73-60 win over the Phoenix Mercury on Saturday night in Minneapolis.
Alanna Smith contributed 14 points for Minnesota (13-3), which won its sixth game in a row. Courtney Williams finished with 12 points and nine boards.
Natasha Cloud scored 14 points to lead Phoenix (8-8). Rebecca Allen scored 11, and Brittney Griner had 10 to go along with seven rebounds.
Minnesota shot 41.9 percent (26 of 62) from the field and 36.4 percent (8 of 22) from beyond the arc. Phoenix shot 31.1 percent (23 of 74) overall and 20.6 percent (7 of 34) from 3-point range.
The Mercury outscored the Lynx 19-13 in the fourth quarter, but by then it was too late.
Williams put the Lynx on top by 20 points with 5:51 to go when she made a pull-up jump shot.
Minnesota led 60-41 at the end of the third quarter.
A driving layup by Cloud brought the Mercury within 46-39 with 3:52 remaining in the third quarter. Allen got the assist on the basket.
Collier made a 3-pointer only 13 seconds later for Minnesota. That started a 14-2 run to finish the quarter for the Lynx, who tallied five points in the final 40 seconds on a 3-pointer by Dorka Juhasz and a pull-up jumper by Williams.
The Lynx led 38-25 at the half. Collier (13 points) and Smith (11) accounted for nearly the same number of points as Phoenix’s entire team before the break.
Minnesota outscored Phoenix 21-10 in the second quarter to seize a double-digit advantage.
Cloud made a layup to cut the Mercury’s deficit to 23-19 with 6:01 to go in the first half.
The Lynx responded by closing the second quarter on a 15-6 run.
Kayla McBride punctuated the run by draining a 3-pointer with 0.9 seconds remaining off an assist by Williams. McBride got the ball on the left wing and released a quick shot that swished through the net.
Minnesota improved to 2-1 against Phoenix this season.
–Field Level Media
