MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Courtney Williams scored a game-high 23 points, Kayla McBride scored 21, and Napheesa Collier added 18 points and nine rebounds as the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx defeated the Phoenix Mercury 82-69 on Sunday in Game 1 of the best-of-five semifinal series.
The Lynx trailed by as many as nine and faced a seven-point deficit at halftime. As Phoenix threatened to even the game down the stretch, it was Williams and McBride making big shots to keep the Mercury at bay. McBride drilled a shot from deep to put the Lynx up 73-67 with under four minutes to play, and Minnesota never looked back.
Game 2 is Tuesday in Minneapolis before the teams head to Phoenix for Game 3 on Friday.
Kahleah Copper led Phoenix with 22 points and Alyssa Thomas had 18. Mercury leading scorer Satou Sabally (16.3 ppg) was held to just 10 points.
Collier, who finished second to Las Vegas’ A’ja Wilson in announced earlier in the day, had 10 first-quarter points but didn’t score at all in the second quarter. She scored eight points in the third as the Lynx evened the game at 59 heading to the final quarter.
Phoenix did its damage almost solely in the paint in the first half. Of the Mercury’s 47 first-half points, 42 came in the paint as Minnesota couldn’t find an answer defensively. Phoenix scored just seven points in the paint after halftime.
Sunday’s game was a quick turnaround for fourth-seeded Phoenix. After on Friday, the Mercury flew to Minnesota on Saturday in advance of the series opener.
The same two teams faced each other four times during the regular season, with Minnesota winning three of those matchups. But the Lynx hadn’t seen a healthy Mercury lineup before Sunday. Copper didn’t play in any of those four games, and Thomas and Sabally each missed at least one game against Minnesota.
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