The Lynx are taking on the Seattle Storm on Wednesday night. Though it’s a matchup against the defending champions, the Storm look very different than they did last season—they are fighting to prove that they are still contenders even without reigning MVP Breanna Stewart and All-Star Sue Bird.

Minnesota, another team who is fighting to prove they can succeed with a very different look than past years, knows better than to sleep on the Storm. They are deep, talented and well-coached.

“They’re a really good team. They’re going to run hard in transition, they’re going to crash the boards. They want to get to the baseline side and create, so it’ll be important that we lock up on defense,” said Jessica Shepard.

The Storm are especially dangerous in transition so getting back on defense off misses (and ideally reducing missed shots period) will be important. However, the Lynx are a dangerous team on the run in their own right.

“They’re really good in transition. [Jordin] Canada is really fast, and she makes a lot of things happen in the full court,” said Danielle Robinson. “Howard is playing well and she did that last year so she’s just carrying that over. They go as they go, so our game plan is really just to slow them down as much as possible and make them guard us as well because we’re tough to defend.”

Shepard will play a key role on Wednesday and throughout the rest of the season rebounding and initiating the Lynx’s transition offense. She’s phenomenal on the boards and as a passer, so that role fits her well. Shepard is also willing to put her body on the line for her team.

“A lot of it comes down to effort, just getting in there. It definitely takes a little bit out of you,” she said of her rebounding acumen.

Fellow rookie Napheesa Collier went off on Saturday with 27 points in her WNBA debut. Although Collier deserves all the credit in the world, Shepard and Damiris Dantas played big roles in Collier’s big night finding her on hard cuts to the basket. That’s an area the Lynx feel they’ll be able to continue to find success.

“I think she just does a great job moving without the ball. She’s a bigger three guard so she gets a lot of mismatches down there as we saw last game, so it makes her an easy target,” said Shepard.

Winning the rebounding and assist battles will go a long way towards getting a win on Wednesday—Shepard is a big part of that.

Quick Hits:

• If you missed Tuesday’s practice report or today’s scouting report, you can find them here and here.
• Per the official injury report, Seimone Augustus is out against the Storm and Karima Christmas-Kelly is still questionable.