Olivia Miles scored 26 points and dished out seven assists as the Minnesota Lynx held on for a 98-87 win over the Las Vegas Aces on Saturday afternoon at Minneapolis in a duel between two of the top teams in the WNBA.
Napheesa Collier scored 22 points on 7-for-14 shooting for Minnesota (26-7), which bounced back from a loss in its previous game against the Los Angeles Sparks. Natasha Howard scored 17 points and Kayla McBride added 15.
Jackie Young scored 23 points and made all eight of her free-throw attempts to lead the Aces (22-10). A’ja Wilson scored 16 points, NaLyssa Smith scored 14 and Dana Evans chipped in 11 off the bench.
Las Vegas dropped into third place in the overall standings, a half game behind the Golden State Valkyries.
The Lynx stayed in control partly because of their shooting from 3-point range. Minnesota shot 51.7% (15 of 29) from distance, while Las Vegas shot 37.0% (10 of 27).
Las Vegas tried to rally in the fourth quarter but could not overcome Minnesota’s hot shooting.
Jewell Loyd made a layup to bring the Aces within 78-72 with 7:24 to play.
The Lynx responded with a 10-2 run to seize an 88-74 advantage with 4:43 remaining. Miles punctuated the run with a 3-pointer from the top of the key.
Las Vegas once again cut the deficit to seven points. Evans made a pull-up jump shot to bring the Aces within 92-85 with 1:39 to go.
Collier made a layup on the next possession, and the Lynx led the rest of the way.
Minnesota held on to a 49-45 lead at the half.
Young made a shot from the paint to bring the Aces within 46-45 with 39.9 seconds to go before the break.
Miles responded on the next possession by knocking down a 3-pointer to increase the Lynx’s halftime lead to four points. Collier assisted on the basket.
Miles added another highlight-reel play to her standout season when she made a buzzer-beater 3-pointer at the end of the first quarter. As the final seconds ticked down, she took the inbounds pass and pulled for a shot just past the halfcourt line. The shot banked off the glass and went through the hoop to put the Lynx on top 28-25.
-Field Level Media
