UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) — The Lynx love coming home to Minnesota to play in front of their fans, but maybe not like this.
Leading by seven points at the half of Sunday's game four of the WNBA semifinals, the Lynx managed only 32 points in the final two quarters and fell to the Connecticut Sun 92-82.
Alyssa Thomas had 18 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds to help the Sun stave off elimination.
The victory set up a winner-take-all fifth game Tuesday night in Minnesota.
Tickets for Tuesday's game five at Target Center are on sale now.
“Both of these, franchises have been here, right? We have a lot of players on our roster that have been here that understand certainly what it takes and tonight’s effort is not going to be good enough,” Connecticut coach Stephanie White said.
The winner will face the Liberty in the WNBA Finals that start Thursday in New York. The Lynx and the Liberty already met for a championship this season with Minnesota beating New York for the Commissioner’s Cup title.
Napheesa Collier did what she could to try to get Minnesota the win, finishing with 29 points and 13 rebounds.
“We’re not happy with, you know, how we came out the last two games. Our offense was able to lift us up last game, but if that’s not working, we have to rely on our defense,” Collier said. “It’s not been good last two games. So we have to go home and defend our home court. We’re both playing for our lives, so we have to play at that level of intensity.”
Minnesota is trying to get back to the Finals for the first time since the 2017 season. That year, the Lynx won their fourth championship in a span of seven years.
The game was tied at 61 before the Sun scored seven of the final nine points of the third quarter to go up 68-63 heading into the fourth.
Ty Harris’ 3-pointer with 5:48 left made it a 10-point game and quashed any hopes the Lynx had of finishing off the series Sunday. Minnesota was only able to get within eight the rest of the way.
“Typical AT, she’s a stat stuffer, steps up in big moments,” White said. “Put the ball in her hands a lot. made plays for herself and others. We ask her to do a lot for us on both ends of the floor. We got a lot from her and continue to need to get a lot from everybody moving forward.”
Collier helped the Lynx build a seven-point lead after one quarter and Minnesota was up 47-41 when DiJonai Carrington stole the ball from Natisha Hiedeman and took it in for a layup. Hiedeman answered by hitting a 3-pointer from just inside halfcourt right before the buzzer to give the Lynx a 50-43 lead at the break. Collier finished the first half with 14 points and Hiedeman had 12 against her former team.