Kayla McBride scored a season-high 37 points, rookie Olivia Miles had a career-high 33 and the Minnesota Lynx beat the Phoenix Mercury 104-100 on Monday night for their third straight victory.
McBride's sixth 3-pointer gave Minnesota a 101-98 lead with 45.1 seconds left. Miles also had eight assists.
Miles drove into the lane and found Natasha Howard for a layup with 21.1 seconds left to make it 103-100. Courtney Williams had a steal at the other end, and Miles made 1 of 2 free throws for a four-point lead.
The game featured 23 lead changes and 13 ties — with both teams shooting 55% from the field. Minnesota (18-6) made 24 of 26 free throws.
The Lynx came into the game with the league's top defense, and had only allowed one other team to reach 100 points. Head coach Cheryl Reeve said the defense wasn't clicking, so they knew it was go time on the other end of the floor.
"We had a space where obviously our defense wasn't helping us very much, so we went into our mindset of, hey, if they score, we got to score," Reeve said after the game. "And so, we kind of had this extra bounce in our step at that end and we found a couple of plays that we liked, getting free, getting shooters open, that sort of thing. You know, made some great reads, some great plays, and obviously the offense won the game today."
McBride finished one point shy of her career high set in 2018.
Miles, meanwhile, continues to set a new standard for WNBA rookies. She became the fastest player in league history to reach 400 points, 100 rebounds and 100 assists — doing it in 22 games.
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Lynx: Host Los Angeles on Wednesday.
Miles becomes the fastest player in WNBA history to reach 400 points, 100 assists, and 100 rebounds
Miles becomes the fastest player in WNBA history to reach 400 points, 100 assists, and 100 rebounds
