Olivia Miles scored 24 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished six assists, and the Minnesota Lynx cruised to a 100-76 win over the Dallas Wings in a Commissioner’s Cup matchup on Tuesday night in Minneapolis.
Kayla McBride finished with 22 points for Minnesota (10-2), which won its eighth game in a row and improved to 4-0 in Commissioner’s Cup play. Natasha Howard scored 21 points on 8-for-10 shooting, and Courtney Williams finished with 16 points and eight rebounds.
Paige Bueckers scored 23 points on 9-for-16 shooting to lead Dallas (7-4), which dropped to 2-1 during the in-season tourney. Arike Ogunbowale scored 16 points and added six assists, and former Lynx forward Jessica Shepard finished with 12 points and nine rebounds.
Wings rookie Azzi Fudd struggled badly in her matchup against Miles, who was selected one spot after Fudd at No. 2 overall in the draft in April. Fudd finished with six points on 2-for-12 shooting, and she had zero assists and two turnovers in 30 minutes.
The Lynx sprinted to a 30-18 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Ogunbowale pulled Dallas within 12-11 when she sank a 3-pointer with 5:41 remaining in the first quarter.
Minnesota responded with a 11-0 run to seize a 23-11 advantage. Howard started the scoring binge when she made a layup off a feed from Miles, and Williams added six straight points on a trio of baskets. Miles punctuated the run with a 3-pointer from 25 feet.
The Wings fell further behind in the second quarter as the Lynx built a 58-38 halftime lead.
Minnesota led by as many as 27 points before the break. Anastasiia Olairi Kosu made a layup to give the Lynx a 56-29 lead with 1:24 left in the half.
The Wings responded with a 9-2 run to cut the deficit to 20. Bueckers scored all nine of Dallas’ points with three 3-pointers during the run, including one with 0.9 seconds remaining before the buzzer.
Minnesota led comfortably the rest of the way. Williams put the Lynx at the 100-point mark with a pull-up jumper in the final minute.
–Field Level Media
