Alexander Shun

Web Editor Associate | @alexpshun 

The Minnesota Lynx and New York Liberty are the two best teams in the WNBA; they played like it tonight.

The two teams battled back and forth all night long in a physical game that saw Minnesota build a lead, only to have New York come back and build a lead of their own. Oh, then Minnesota dug into that lead, but, unfortunately, could not do enough offensively to get the win, turning the ball over on four of their last five possessions while trailing by just two points.

“We didn’t make shots towards the end and we didn’t execute towards the end, but we got the defensive stops we needed and just didn’t score,” said Lynx guard Renee Montgomery.

“Our offensive execution was subpar, especially at key times,” said Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve. “We just had too many empty possessions, particularly in the second half – mostly in the second half.”

Lynx forward Maya Moore led all scorers on the night with 23 points, while adding five rebounds, two assists, two steals and a blocked shot, in an MVP-esque performance from the league’s reigning MVP.

Center Sylvia Fowles added 19 points and nine rebounds, one rebound shy of her sixth-straight double-double, while guard Renee Montgomery, in just her third Lynx start of the season, kicked in 14 points and seven assists and once again played good defense on the Liberty guards…well, as good as could be expected that is.

New York’s backcourt of guard Tanisha Wright and Epiphanny Prince combined for 34 points, six rebounds, 13 assists and two steals while forward Tina Charles, the WNBA’s fourth-leading scorer entering tonight’s contest, finished with 18 points, 14 rebounds, two steals and three blocked shots.

The last time these two teams met, the Liberty outscored the Lynx in the paint 40-28; tonight was a much different story, with both teams finishing with just 28 points down low. Instead, the three-ball was what hurt Minnesota tonight.

“They got 21 points from the three-point line, that’s not what they do so give them credit because they stepped up when they needed to,” said Reeve.

With the win, the Liberty clinch the Eastern Conference, leaving the Lynx to try and clinch on Tuesday night against the Seattle Storm.

“It’s not that we didn’t play hard enough, we definitely played hard enough, we left it all out there, we just didn’t have the execution that we were looking for,” said Reeve.

LEADER OF THE PACK: MAYA MOORE

After suffering an incidental elbow to the face from teammate Sylvia Fowles in Friday night’s game against Indiana, Lynx forward Maya Moore played tonight, black-eye and all, and played tremendously.

Moore came out the gate, scoring points in bunches, dropping 12 points in the first quarter alone and finishing with 23 pints, five rebounds, and two assists.

Though the team as a whole struggled in the third quarter, Moore did her best to keep Minnesota from slipping too far behind a very good Liberty team and managed to help spark a late third quarter run after nailing a 15 foot jump shot.

Though the Lynx are surely disappointed in the loss, Moore definitely did her best to help the Lynx lock up the Western Conference tonight but fell just a few plays short.

PLAY OF THE GAME

With the Lynx trailing by six points midway through the fourth quarter forward Maya Moore came off a screen and nailed a three-pointer to cut the Liberty lead to three. On the ensuing Lynx possession, center Sylvia Fowles found an open lane and cut to the basket for an easy lay-up, cutting the Liberty lead to just a single point and forcing New York to take a timeout.

The sequence ignited the over 9,000 fans that packed into Target Center and gave Minnesota a huge momentum shift.

QUOTEABLE

“It was supposed to be an executed play and score, we just have to do the play the way coach drew it up and it was an uncharacteristic type of ending for us,” said Lynx forward Maya Moore, speaking about the last offensive possession the Lynx had in which they committed a turnover while trailing 73-71. The Lynx had turnovers on four of their final five offensive possessions but played fantastic defense to keep it a one-possession game late.

UP NEXT

The Lynx will finish out this four-game homestand, as well as look to clinch the Western Conference, on Tuesday night against Seattle Storm. The game will begin at 7:00 P.M. CT.