Napheesa Collier scored 27 points Tuesday night as the Minnesota Lynx beat the Connecticut Sun 88-77 to advance the WNBA Finals for the first time in seven years.
Collier, the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, also added four blocks and pulled down 11 rebounds in front of the Target Center crowd, which also saw a 24-point performance from Courtney Williams and 19 points from Kayla McBride.
"This group has just been a really special group," said head coach Cheryl Reeve. "The number of people that have reached out to me to tell me they enjoy watching them play, we do things the right way, and that they're rooting for them. I just overwhelmingly felt proud for how we played. We played Lynx basketball tonight and it was nice to get back to that."
Tuesday's playoff win gave the Lynx their 48th postseason victory as an organization, the most ever by an WNBA franchise.
After the final buzzer, Collier hugged Hall of Famer and former Lynx star Lindsay Whalen who helped lead the Lynx to their first four championships.
"[Lindsay] has continued to text me all season and all of last season, just showing her support and it means so much," Collier said. "Just having someone who is such a Hall of Famer, has gone through this, and has done what I want to achieve. Hearing from her, having her support, and showing up I just wanted to give her a hug to say thank you."
Now Minnesota goes on to face the top-seeded New York Liberty in a best-of-five series starting with Game 1 on Thursday night. New York will host the first two games, with game three, and a possible game four slated to take place at Target Center in downtown Minneapolis.
"Not only do we want to win a championship, we don't want to leave each other yet and that's a great feeling," added Collier. "It is really gratifying to be here, but we have a lot of work to do yet. It feels good and we're enjoying the ride. It would be nice to close it out in three and not have to go to five to stay together."
Game 1 tips off Thursday at 7 p.m. on ESPN.
Tickets for Game 3 and a possible Game 4 at Target Center are on sale.