The Guru’s WNBA Roundup: Seattle Third-Quarter Eruption Tops New York; Minnesota Extends First-Place Lead; Las Vegas Gives Connecticut 10th Straight Loss; All-Star Reserves Named

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

NEW YORK – Seattle (12-7) handcuffed the defending WNBA champion New York Liberty (12-6) in the third quarter 22-6 Sunday afternoon and held on for a 79-70 victory here in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center to move on to within a half-game of the Storm’s host which dropped into a second-place tie and the third seed spot with idle Phoenix (12-6) at 4.5 games behind Minnesota (17-2)

Though the New York Yankees and Mets were engaged in a crosstown baseball weekend series windup, that event produced a little dent to the near-capacity crowd of 15,515 here marking twice the Liberty attendance held extremely strong against a competing local event – the other last month on the same night the NBA Knicks over in Manhattan drew a sellout of Madison Square Garden during the Eastern Conference finals.

First-place Minnesota, following the Commissioner’s Cup title game home loss to Indiana last Tuesday that does not count in the regular season, won their third straight Sunday and completed a weekend back-to-back edging Chicago 80-75 drawing a crowd of 8,810 in the Target Center against the 12th place Sky (5-12) a day after the Lynx in one of two WNBA Saturday games in front of 8,771 in Minneapolis beat expansion Golden State 82-71 as the sixth-place Valkyries fell to 9-8 at seven games back.

Saturday’s other game saw Los Angeles (6-13) on the road nip Indiana 89-87 before a crowd of 17,274 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, the Fever (9-9) still without Caitlin Clark due to a groin injury and ending a three-game win streak including the Commissioner’s Cup title falling into a seventh-place tie with Las Vegas at 7.5 games back and a half-game behind Golden State.

The Aces (9-9) got to the deadlock for the remaining two playoff spots a game ahead of idle Washington (8-10) by winning Sunday’s other game 86-68 at last place Connecticut (2-16) before a Mohegan Sun crowd of 8,476 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville as the Sun dropped their 10th straight game.

On Monday, Dallas (6-13) will be at Phoenix following a win at home using four rookies, including overall No. 1 pick Paige Bueckers, at 10 p.m., while Golden State will be at Atlanta (11-7), which in fifth is 1.5 in front of the Valkyries and a half-game behind Seattle.

On Tuesday, New York will host Las Vegas at 8 p.m. on ESPN while Washington will host Chicago at 11:30 a.m. in suburban Fairfax, Va., at the larger EagleBank Arena, home of George Mason University.

Storm Rages Over New York

Injury-riddled New York, which is without Finals MVP Jonquel Jones rehabbing a right knee until sometime after the All-Star break (July 19), has dropped five games over nine d ating to the first of the losses June 14 which deprived the Liberty and sent Indiana to the Commissioner’s Cup title game.

Seattle, meanwhile, continues to surge winning the first two of a three-game road trip that concludes at Connecticut Wednesday morning at 11 a.m. Overall the Storm have won 9 of the last 12.

Gabby Williams, the former UConn star who was on the French Olympic team which lost by a point to USA in the Gold Medal game in Paris, had 16 points while Nneka Ogwumike had 15.

New York, which rallied at home Thursday over Los Angeles to snap a three-game losing streak that came on the road, led by three at the half before missing the Liberty’s first 10 shots in the third.

Besides Skylar Diggins joining Williams and Ogwumike in the third period attack, Dominique Malonga out of France, the second overall pick in April’s draft, made her first appearance of the day and finished with 11points and eight rebounds in 10 minutes of action.

She also helped defend former Storm star Breanna Stewart, held to eight points, the first time she didn’t score in double digits since last season’s opener.

Besides Jones’s absence, substitute Isabelle Harrison suffered a right knee injury early in the third and never returned.

Sabrina Ionescu scored 22 but 20 came in the first half including a four-point play near the end that resulted in a 44-41 lead at the break.

Minnesota Keeps Rolling

Courtney Williams tied her personal best on the season with 25 points, while Napheesa Collier scored 21 as the Lynx in rallying from an early 24-10 deficit to make it at 11-0 in the Target Center made it their best start besting the mark set in 2013 when they won one of their four titles.

Minnesota lost at the finish in overtime last season to New York in Brooklyn in the decisive Game Five of the finals.

Collier, with seven more, has set a team mark with 45 straight foul shots.

Lindsay Whelan held the previous record at 41 while Candice Wiggins conpleted 44 across the 2009 and 2010 seasons.

Chicago’s second-year pro Angel Reese had her 11th double-double with 16 points and 17 boards.

Kayla McBride beat the shot clock for a 76-70 lead with 27 seconds left before Chicago’s Rachel Banham hit her sixth 3-pointer and 20th point to make it 77-75 10 seconds later.

McBride was then 1-2 at the line and Alanna Smith blocked a game-tying three-point attempt from Banham.

Elizabeth Williams scored 12 for the Sky and Ariel Atkins and Michaela Onyenwere each scored 11.

Minnesota, which has another back-to-back Wednesday and Thursday, used a 16-2 run in the second period to go up three but Reese scored for a 38-37 differential at the half.

L.A. Edges Indiana

In Saturday’s win over Golden State Collier scored 22 while Williams scored 15 and McBride had 12 points.

Tiffany Hayes scored 23 for the Vakyries, who had won their last two games and four of five.

In Saturday’s other game, the fifth including the Commissioner’s Cup Clark missed with a groin injury following five earlier absences with a quad injury, Los Angeles got 21 points from Azura Stevens with 12 boards in the win while Kelsey Plum scored 20 giving the Sparks two Indy road wins in nine days.

Dearica Hamby scored 18 and Rickea Jackson scored 15, including the go-ahead basket 88-87 with 57.4 seconds left in regulation.

Indiana missed its last five shots, four in the last minute including one from Aaliyah Boston from the top of the key before time expired. She finished with 23 points and 12 boards, while Natasha Howard had 21 with nine rebounds. Kelsey Mitchell scored 19 including her 600th 3-pointer, while Howard passed 2,000 rebounds.

Indiana hosts Golden State Wednesday while Los Angeles hosts Minnesota Thursday.

Las Vegas Extends Connecticut’s Woes

Hard to believe these two teams not long ago fought for a league title, though Connecticut underwent a roster devastation in the winter losing all five starters and 10 of 12 players.

Reigning MVP A’ja Wilson led the Aces with 19 points and four blocks while Dana Evans was 7-11 from the field and scored 18 points. Jackie Young added 14 points with six assists while NaLyssa Smith had 11 points and 10 boards.

The Aces have won seven straight against the Sun.

Rookie Aneesah Morrow scored 12 for Connecticut, while Tina Charles scored 11 and rookie Saniya Rivers scored 10.

Marina Mabrey has missed five straight games with a knee injury.

All-Star Reserve Picks Named

The reserves for the July 19th All-Star Game (8:30, ABC-TV) chosen by the league’s 13 coaches were announced while on Tuesday the two captains – Caitlin Clark and Napheesa Collier – will pick from the pool of the eight other starters and the reserves.

Three rookies – Paige Bueckers (Dallas), Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen (Washington); Skylar Diggins and Gabby Williams (Seattle), Rhyne Howard (Atlanta), Kelsey Mitchell (Indiana), Kelsey Plum (L.A.), Angel Reese (Chicago), Alyssa Thomas (Phoenix), Kayla Thornton (Golden State), Courtney Williams (Minnesota), Jackie Young (Las Vegas).