The Guru’s WNBA Roundup: Minnesota Stays Perfect at Home by Beating Las Vegas; New York Rallies on Phoenix to Stay Solid in Second; Golden State Rallies on Dallas for 3-Way Tie at Seventh

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Minnesota kept its distance on top of the WNBA Friday night and continued to be perfect at home by cruising over Las Vegas 109-78 before a Target Center crowd of 8,810 in Minneapolis as the Aces (12-13) dropped their second straight after a three-game win streak and fell to the top of a three-way seventh-place tie at 9.5 games behind the Lynx (22-4) with expansion Golden State (11-12) and Washington (11-12) for the last playoff spot.

The trio are just a game behind sixth-place Indiana (13-12).

Out West, Golden State continued to be perfect in the local stands filling all 18,064 home seats in the Chase Center it shares with the NBA Warriors in San Francisco since its season opener as the Valkyries snapped a three-game losing streak by rallying in the second half beating 12th place Dallas 86-76.

And back East in a 2-3 showdown the defending champion New York Liberty put a little more room in front of Phoenix with an 89-76 victory, running its win streak to five straight before a near-capacity home crowd of of 17, 515 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on the front end of a back-to-back that will see Los Angeles bring its four-game win streak knocking on the door in one of two Saturday league games with New York tipping off 7 p.m. on NBA-TV.

The Sparks (10-14) are 10th just 1.5 games behind the seventh-place deadlock.

The other Saturday game has Washington hosting fourth-place Seattle (15-10) at 7:30 p.m. on the WNBA’s streaming League Pass. The visiting Storm are just a half-game behind Phoenix (15-9), now six behind Minnesota after the loss to the Liberty (17-6), but only a half-game ahead of fifth-place Atlanta (14-19).

New York sits in second 3.5 games behind Minnesota, the team it clipped at the finish in overtime in a decisive Game 5 of the finals in Brooklyn last October for the Liberty’s first title in the franchise’s then 28–year history matching the length of the WNBA’s existence.

The two will finally meet the first time this season in the Midwest at 8 p.m. on ESPN.

Collier and Williams Lead Minnesota Rout of Las Vegas

The Lynx are now 14-0 at home as favored MVP candidate Napheesa Collier, the All-Star winning MVP last weekend in Indiana, scored 25 points, while Courtney William was 10-for-12 from the field for 23 points, propelled by 3-for-4 makes from deep.

Collier was 7-for-12 from the field, besides 10-for-13 from the line with nine boards as Minnesota won its fourth straight with Bridget Carleton scoring 14 points, Kayla McBride scoring 13, and Jessica Shepard adding a double double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

The Lynx shot 54 percent from the field and 25-for-38 from the line.

Reigning MVP A’ja Wilson had 15 points for Las Vegas and Jackie Young scored 14.

The Aces led early 14-12 on Chelsea Gray’s connect from beyond the arc before Minnesota powered up to a 15-4 run to finish the first quarter.

In two of the five Sunday games on the WNBA slate Minnesota hosts Atlanta at 7 p.m. on NBA-TV while Las Vegas playing its third road game in four days visits Dallas at 4 p.m. on ESPN3.

Third Quarter Eruption Fuels Golden State Rally Over Dallas

Down 12 points early in the the third quarter, Golden State, which lost leading scorer Kayla Thornton earlier in the week to a season-ending right knee injury at practice, erupted for 33 in the period heading to the fourth with a 63-60 lead and finished the victory with 56 in the second half.

Tiffany Hayes scored 17 for the Valkyries while Janelle Salaun scored 16 points.

Dallas rookie Paige Bueckers, the overall No. 1 pick out of UConn, tied it at 71 in the fourth but with Golden State up 75-72 under the three-minute mark Temi Fagbenle kept a Valkyries possession alive with an offensive board and completed a three-point play for a 78-72 advantage.

Hayes went on to go 5-of-6 from the line and Veronica Burton was 3-for-4 to seal the outcome.

Bueckers finished with 17 for the Wings, Arike Ogunbowale scored 16, Aziaha James scored 13, and Haley Jones added 10 points.

Golden State’s Fagbenle had 11 points and eight boards, Carla Leite scored 14, and Cecilia Zandalasini scored 10 as the Valkyries continued to try to be the first team to make the playoffs in their debut season.

Dallas jumped to a 21-10 lead in this one after the opening 10 minutes and was still up 36-30 at the half.

Golden State said Thornton on Friday had successful surgery.

The Valkyries on Sunday are at last place Connecticut (3-20) at 1 p.m. on CBSSN.

One of the other Sunday games has Indiana at Chicago (7-17) at 3 p.m. on ABC and ESPN+, the host Sky moving the game from Wintrust Arena to the larger United Center which is home to the NBA Bulls.

This is the second time in the series this season Chicago has been motivated to play elsewhere with the reason likely to go up in smoke again.

As other places hosting Indiana on the road, reigning rookie of the year Caitlin Clark, dating to her Iowa senior season when she set the NCAA scoring record, has been drawing packed arenas.

However, until this season she has played injury free, last sidelined in high school.

She missed the first game early this season and matchup with college rival Angel Reese when out with a quad injury though the game still drew a sizable crowd.

Now, since right before the All-Star break Clark has been out with a second groin injury with no announcement on a return while Reese has also been out.

In all, Clark has missed to date 13 games, including the Commissioner’s Cup won in Minnesota by Indiana, the All-Star 3-point shooting contest and the game in which she was one of the team captains, having drawn the most fan votes.

Ionescu Leads New York Over Phoenix

All-Star Sabrina Ionescu scored 29 points while Finals MVP Jonquel Jones, who returned from a month-long ankle injury earlier in the week, scored 20 points with 11 boards to lead the Liberty over the Mercury for their fifth victory.

New York jumped to a franchise best-ever 9-0 start keeping pace with Minnesota until the injury bug knocked the WNBA champs off the mark.

Phoenix, which beat New York twice in June, had gone 9-2 but now has lost three straight heading to Sunday’s other game at Washington at 6 p.m. which will be the second of a back-to-back hosting game for the Mystics following Seattle’s Saturday visit.

The Liberty are in the same position Saturday night as Washington with the visit from Los Angeles, which is expecting the return soon from second year pro Cameron Brink, who missed most of last season with an injury.

In New York’s Friday win in which the Liberty trailed 54-49 midway through the third until exploding with an 18-5 run through the end of the period, Leonie Fiebich added 13 points.

The Liberty continued to dominate with a 10-2 run, with a 5-point burst from Ionescu, into the next period building the advantage to 82-64.

“We brought some urgency,” said New York coach Sandy Brondello of her team’s reversal, “we competed a little bit harder. We just got a little more focused in discipline and how we wanted to play.”

Alyssa Thomas had 20 points, 13 boards, and eight assists, two below her 17th career triple double and 13th in the regular season.

Previously, Thomas out of Maryland, played her whole pro career in Connecticut, one of five starters and 10 of 12 roster players who departed the Sun through trades or free agency last winter.

That included Saint Joseph’s grad Natasha Cloud, who after a lengthy career in Washington, was on the Sun roster briefly after dealt from last season’s Mercury group.

She has been a boost to New York since her arrival and more depth is coming as soon as former Washington star Emma Meesseman from Belgium can have her foreign specifics cleared.

In 2019, Meesseman was the first reserve player to win Finals MVP when Washington topped Connecticut at home in Game 5.

Rutgers grad Kahleah Copper out of Philadelphia added 14 points for the Mercury while on New York Cloud scored 10 and Breanna Stewart added six points and eight boards.