The Minnesota Lynx made history (again) on Tuesday night against the Indiana Fever.
The Lynx came away with a convincing 87-63 win over the Fever, good for their 11th of the season. With that win, the Lynx became the first team in WNBA history to start the season 11-0, beating their own mark of 10-0 that they set back in 2012.
“I told them, it’s more of an end result,” Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve said. “It’s more of an external (thing). Those records and streaks and those kinds of things… They’re not caught up in those kinds of moments… That’s kind of an end result kind of thing that they don’t really talk about.”
From the beginning, there wasn’t much doubt. The Lynx jumped out to a 25-15 lead at the end of the first quarter, and expanded that to 49-31 at the half, thanks to nine points and six rebounds from Maya Moore and eight bench points from Jia Perkins.
It’s pretty fitting that there was major contributions from both the starters and the bench, considering that’s what got the Lynx to this point in the first place. This is perhaps the deepest team in WNBA history and they added more to the resume, as the starters finished with 53 points and the bench finished with 34.
“Now we’ve injected players like Renee (Montgomery), Jia (Perkins), Natasha Howard, (Janel) McCarville, who give us something different when they come in,” Reeve said.
The thing is, while the Lynx are undefeated, they aren’t a comfortable undefeated. The Los Angeles Sparks entered Tuesday 9-0, vying for the same record the Lynx set. But even if the Lynx didn’t have a team behind them in the standings, you get the feeling each game would be equally important.
Maya Moore led the Lynx with 16 points, eight rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block. Seimone Augustus added 12 points, five rebounds and five assists. Sylvia Fowles and Perkins scored 11 points each, while Rebekkah Brunson added 10.
Erlana Larkins led Indiana with 12 points and nine rebounds. Tiffany Mitchell and Lynetta Kizer added 11 and 10, respectively.
With the loss, Indiana falls to 4-7 on the season, close to falling out of the playoff picture, albeit very early in the season.
Numbers Game:
- In possibly Catchings’ last game at the Target Center, she finished with just two points. If the Lynx and Fever do not match up in the playoffs, it will indeed be her final game in Minneapolis.
- The Lynx shot a scorching 7-for-17 from the 3-point line (41.2 percent). Perkins went a perfect 3-for-3.
- The Fever, on the other hand, shot just 3-for-20 from deep (15 percent).
- Minnesota had 21 assists compared to Indiana’s 11. “I thought we shared the ball,” Reeve said. “It’s just fun when you’re able to move it. It’s backbreaking when you make the extra pass.”
Up Next:
The Lynx will get a bit of a break as they don’t play until Sunday when they hit the West Coast to play the Seattle Storm. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. The game will air on League Pass and, as always, BOB 106.1 FM.