Paint problems prevent back-to-back Lynx comebacks

BY MIKE PEDEN

Seimone Augustus of the Minnesota Lynx got what she wished for Sunday night by avoiding overtime in their match with the New York Liberty at Target Center.

Unfortunately, she and the rest of the Lynx struggled from the floor while New York found their stroke, resulting in a 74-72 Liberty win in the wrap-up of a back-to-back weekend for the Lynx.

Augustus scored just 10 points and made only one field goal in the second half. The Lynx (10-17) made just 33% of their shots for the game while the Liberty (17-11) countered with 48%. The margin wiped out a solid rebounding effort for Minnesota, who out-rebounded the Liberty 46-29 and included forward Rebekkah Brunson setting a new franchise record with 18.

"(Augustus) is a great offensive player," said Liberty guard Cappie Pondexter, who scored 17 points. "We just got to make everything difficult for her. Make her make tough shots."

The Lynx trailed for most of the game and went down by as much as 13. Facing an 11-point deficit to start the fourth, the Lynx responded in a similar fashion to their win against Chicago Saturday to trim the lead to one twice in the quarter.

Barring the comeback was problems in the paint. Minnesota made just 14 of 38 shots inside, including a missed lay-up from guard Monica Wright with less than 10 seconds to go.

"I'm going to do whatever my team needs me to do to win. Tonight was the night I had to score when someone else was off," Wright said, finishing with 16 points.

The Lynx also had no answer for Liberty forward Nicole Powell, who scored a game-high 21 points by making eight of her 11 shots, including five three-pointers as she got open against the Lynx's man-to-man and zone defenses.

"When you hit a couple shots, you feel like you're involved in the game," Powell said. "Normally, it's going to be somebody else. Tonight just happened to be me, and we'll take it."

"A lot of teams key in on me. When Nicole's playing like that, it just trickles down," Powell said.

The trickle-down effect extended New York's winning streak to six, keeping their three-game cushion over Connecticut in the Eastern Conference playoff race with six games left in the Liberty's season. Minnesota remains in a heated battle with Los Angeles and San Antonio for the last two playoff spots in the Western Conference as the three teams are separated by just one game.

The Lynx do not hold tiebreakers with either team at this point, but have a chance to gain the upper hand in the standings with their next two games against the teams they are fighting with.

"Every game's going to come down to the wire," said Lynx guard Lindsay Whalen, who led the team with 18 points. "After a loss, you can't sit and dwell on it. We start preparing for San Antonio right away and get to have a really good opportunity to win on their home court."