The Guru’s WNBA Roundup: Minnesota Avenges Weekend Loss to Chicago While Phoenix Nips Golden State on Thomas Free Throw in Last Second

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Two games Monday opened week nine in the WNBA with first-place Minnesota (19-4) gaining a split on the three-day visit to Chicago (7-14) beating the Sky 91-78 before a crowd of 8,105 at Wintrust Arena that saw the home team loss enable idle Los Angeles (7-14) to pull into a 10th place tie.

Out West in a thriller second-place Phoenix (15-6) gained a tight 78-77 win at expansion Golden State (10-11) on All-Star Alyssa Thomas’ foul shot with one second remaining enabling the Mercury to take second place moving a half-game ahead of idle New York (14-6) three games behind the Lynx while the Valkyries before a season-long sellout streak of 18,064 at the shared NBA Chase Center in San Francisco dropped to an eighth-place tie with idle Las Vegas three games ahead of Chicago and Las Vegas in the last playoff spot.

Indiana (11-10) and Washington (11-10) are a game in front in sixth place and on Tuesday night on the WNBA two-game card at 8 p.m. Indiana with Caitlin Clark visits last-place Connecticut (3-18) in Boston, the host Sun moving the game from the Mohegan Arena to the TD Garden home of the NBA Celtics.

It’s the second year Connecticut, which is exploring a sale and possible relocation, is playing in Beantown where an independent group has been bidding to land a WNBA franchise.

Washington follows at 10 p.m. at Los Angeles on the League Pass streaming site.

Five games on Wednesday will wrap up activity ahead of this weekend’s All-Star break, Indiana, which is hosting the WNBA mid-summer classic, completes a two-day back-to-back on the road moving from Boston to New York at the Barclays Center at 7:30 p.m. in Brooklyn on CBSSN, Phoenix visits Minnesota at 1 p.m. on Merc+, and Golden State is at Seattle, highlighting three of the games.

In the other two Las Vegas will be at Dallas at 8 p.m. while Atlanta at noon will be at Chicago.

ESPN on Friday night at 8 p.m. airs the Skills and 3-point contests from Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis followed Saturday by the game at 8 p.m. on ABC.

Collier Leads Minnesota Over Chicago

Napheesa Collier scored 29 points with five assists and three steals for the winning Lynx, who will be completing a jammed schedule since June 29 on Wednesday.

In recent contests Minnesota will have played five games in eight days by Wednesday.

Courtney Williams added 18 points with eight boards, seven assists and four steals.

The game was close with Chicago leading 46–44 at the half and looking for a sweep until Bridget Carleton put the visitors up to stay when she made a shot from deep at the outset of the third quarter.

It was still close when Collier, the top player in the league to date, connected beyond the arc for a 68-63 lead with 0.4 seconds left in the third and then she began applying distance at the outset of the fourth making a pair of foul shots at the end of an 8-2 run for a 76-65 advantage.

Late in the game the Lynx scored on three turnovers to go up 87-74. Collier was 7-14 from the field, including 4-7 on 3-point attempts and a perfect 11-11 at the line.

Kayla McBride added 17 for the Lynx and Carleton scored 11 as Chicago is now 1-11 against teams .500 or better, the one being Saturday’s upset in the first game hosting Minnesota.

The Sky’s Angel Reese had her ninth straight double-double with 22 points and 10 boards, Rachel Banham scored 15 points and Rebecca Allen scored 10.

Chicago’s Ariel Atkins, who scored 27 in Saturday’s win, suffered a leg injury in the second quarter and became sidelined the rest of the game.

Collier as the second most All-Star voting recipient from fans, media and league players will captain one team that will be coached by Minnesota’s Cheryl Reeve, the former La Salle star from South Jersey, whose Lynx had the best record at the cutoff date.

Caitlin Clark as the top vote-getter will captain the other squad coached by New York’s Sandy Brondello, whose Liberty nipped Phoenix for second best record on the same cutoff date.

Phoenix Tops Golden State in Final Second

DeWanna Bonner, recently signed by the Mercury after Indiana honored her request to be waived, scored 22 for Phoenix with 11 boards.

She put Phoenix ahead 75-72 on a reverse layup with 51.8 seconds left but gave Golden State life missing two of four free throws in the final 16 seconds.

Janelle Salaun, who scored 12 points, got the Valkyries within a point at 76-75 and tied 77-77 with 6.8 left before Thomas was fouled and made the second from the line after missing the first.

Veronica Burton had 17 points and six assists for Golden State, Tiffany Hayes scored 15, while Monique Billings had 10 points and nine rebounds.