Kayla McBride scores 26, Diamond Miller adds 22 as Lynx beat Liberty
NEW YORK -- Kayla McBride made 11 of 14 from the field and finished with 26 points, Diamond Miller scored 22 points and the Minnesota Lynx beat the New York Liberty 88-83 Friday night in the second of back-to-back games for both teams.
The game, which was originally scheduled for June 7 — one of a handful of pro games that were postponed that night and subsequent dates — because of smoke from the Canadian wildfires blanketing New York and the Northeast. The Liberty played its fourth game in six days.
Dorka Juhász scored 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Lynx.
Minnesota (12-13), which lost its first six games of the season, has won three of its last four and eight of its last 12.
New York (18-6) jumped to a 15-5 lead but the Lynx scored 19 of the next 21 points to take a seven-point lead early in the second quarter. Sabrina Ionescu hit a 3-pointer to give the Liberty a 36-35 lead with 3:30 left in the first half but Jessica Shepard converted a three-point play 20 seconds later and Minnesota led the rest of the way.
Ionescu led New York with 31 points, seven rebounds and seven assists and Breanna Stewart scored 23 points. Betnijah Laney added 11 points and Jonquel Jones grabbed 11 rebounds to go with nine points.
Nikolina Milic made a layup to give Minnesota its biggest lead of the game at 66-49 midway through the third quarter and McBride hit a 3-pointer to give the Lynx a 15-point lead with 7:47 to play. The Liberty scored the next 14 points as Minnesota went scoreless for nearly-five minutes, trimming their deficit to 77-76 when Stewart made two free throws with 2:57 to play but Miller answered with a 3-points, McBride followed with layup and Minnesota held on.
Napheesa Collier (ankle) — who is averaging 21.8 points (No. 4 in the WNBA) and 7.9 rebounds per game — and Rachel Banham (thumb) did not play for the Lynx.
Courtney Vandersloot (rest) and Stefanie Dolson (ankle) missed the game for New York.
New York's Kayla Thornton was called for a Flagrant 1 foul late in the third quarter.
Emily Engstler, who signed earlier Friday with Minnesota on a 7-day contract, had four points, five rebounds and two steals in 14 minutes before leaving the game due to a shoulder injury suffered when she collided with Thornton chasing a loose ball late in the third quarter.
