The Guru’’s WNBA Report;; Mnnesota Edges Seattle; New York Over Dallas; L.A. Ends Indy Streak

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Trades and injuries cropped up among the five WNBA games played Tuesday night as the season began hitting the stretch drive for the eight playoff spots that will be finalized Sept. 11 on this season’s expanded and record 44-game schedule.

First place Minnesota (25-5) dodged its first bullet over the next two weeks by edging Seattle 91-87 before a crowd of 10,468 at ClimatePledge Arena as MVP frontrunner Napheesa Collier became sidelined for the visiting Lynx with a sprained right ankle suffered in the third quarter of Saturday’s blowout win at Las Vegas.

The host Storm (16-14) suffered their third straight loss at home by narrow margins and four of five falling to sixth place a half-game in front of idle Las Vegas (15-14) and a game behind Indiana (17-13) whose five game win streak ended with a 100-91 loss at ninth place Los Angeles (13-15) before a crowd of 16,035 at Crypto.com Arena, formerly the Staples Center.

The Sparks, 3-0 in the Fever series, have won seven of eight on the season and now sit just outside the playoff fence a game behind idle Golden State (14-14) who host seventh-place Las Vegas (15-14) in the WNBA’s sole game Wednesday at 10 p.m. on NBA TV.

The expansion Valkyries have a chance to flip back up over the opposition following Sunday’s loss at Las Vegas to end a three-game win streak.

Minnesota, which has won seven of eight, was helped in the win at Seattle by the arrival of DjJonai Carrington, who scored 13 points after being acquired Sunday from 12th-place Dallas (8-22) for Diamond Miller, Karlie Samuelson and a 2027 second round pick.

The Wings in their first trip to defending champion New York (18-10) fell 85-76 to the second-place Liberty (19-10), who stayed 5.5 behind Minnesota and inched to a game ahead of idle Atlanta (18-11) before a crowd of 17,306 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn as free-agent Emma Meesseman played her second game and home debut scoring 13 as the crowd chanted “Emma!” after the game.

New York, which was upset in Dallas last Monday, is without All-Star Breanna Stewart, who is sidelined until near the playoffs with a bone bruise in her right knee.

Former Villanova star Maddy Siegrist, the overall number three pick of the 2023 draft, made her first Wings appearance in two months after a knee injury and scored 13.

No. 1 pick Paige Bueckers scored 21 for the visitors with eight boards and four assists playing in the same arena the former UConn star won a game over Louisville last winter ahead of the Huskies’ extended NCAA record 12th title dethroning defending champion South Carolina in Tampa last April.

Before Seattle played Minnesota Tuesday the Storm acquired Washington leading scorer Brittney Sykes, a four-time all-defensive team pick, averaging 15.4 points, 4.4 assists, and 1.2 steals in exchange for Alysha Clark, Zia Cook, and a first-round pick in next April’s draft.

With Sykes gone and the new additions yet to arrive the Mystics (13-16) lost their third straight falling to 10th place a half-game behind Los Angeles and 1.5 in back of Golden State after a 78-64 setback at 11th place Chicago (8-21) as the Sky ended an eight-game losing streak before a crowd of 6,572 at Wintrust Arena.

In the other Tuesday game Phoenix (18-11) tied Atlanta for fourth 1.5 in front of Indiana and a game behind New York after a gaining an 82-66 win over last place Connecticut (5-23) before a crowd of 8,083 at PHX Arena.

  After Wednesday’s Aces-Valkyries game, the league has three games on Thursday, two on Amazon Prime Video as Chicago hosts Atlanta at 8 p.m. before Phoenix and Indiana collide in the Southwest at 10 p.m.

At the same time as the Phoenix game, Los Angeles hosts Connecticut.

Williams Paces Minnesota Over Seattle

Courtney Williams scored 14 of her 20 points for the Lynx in the second half while Jessica Shepard double doubled with 13 points and 13 boards, and Kayla McBride hit all six from the line in the last half-minute to insure the win.

Bridget Carleton got all 12 of her points in the second half on four makes from deep in addition to the 13 points in the game from Carrington.

“It’s been great, I’m familiar with three people who are a big part of the offense,” Carrington said. ‘It’s been great to be part of a team where we have a goal, you can feel the energy, everyone’s a winner and I’m a winner too, so it’s great to be part of it.”

Seattle’s Nneka Ogwumike scored 23 to move past retired Lauren Jackson and Phoenix’s DeWanna Bonner into seventh with 140 WNBA games reaching 20 points.

Erica Wheeler, a former Rutgers star, scored 19 and overall No. 2 pick Dominique Malonga out of France scored 12 while Skylar Diggins added 11 for the Storm.

Gabby Williams scored nine and with three thefts set the seattle record with 77 season steals breaking Natasha Howard’s previous record when she was the league leader with 74 in 2019.

Minnesota hosts Washington Friday at 7:30 p.m. on ION before heading to New York Sunday at 12:30 p.m. on ABC and ESPN+ for the second meeting with the Liberty and first at Barclays since last October’s finals loss at the finish in overtime in the decisive Game 5 that gave the home team their first title in the franchise’s 28-year history that matched the length of the WNBA’s existence.

Seattle next visits Las Vegas at 10 p.m. Friday on ION.

Los Angeles Ends Indiana Streak

Rickea Jackson exploded in the second half with 17 of her 25 points for the Sparks while Kelsey Plum had 25 points and 11 assists.

Indiana trailed 90-68 with 6:23 left in regulation when the Fever used a 21-5 run to move within six points but Azure Stevens answered with her fifth straight from deep to help seal the win.

Reigning rookie of the year Caitlin Clark missed her eighth straight with a groin injury – the Fever are 9-8 without her including the quad and groin injuries early in the season.

Stevens scored 19 on 7-for-8 from the field while Dearica Hamby scored 16 and Cameron Brink in her third game back since missing most of her rookie season with a knee injury tied her career high with five blocks.

The Fever’s Kelsey Mitchell scored 34 points fueled by seven 3-pointers, Natasha Howard added 17 but Aliyah Boston’s double double streak at six was stopped held to nine boards with 15 points.

The Indiana win streak was the longest since six in 2015 when coach Stephanie White was on the sidelines her first stint with the team.

Late in the first half a sex toy was thrown on the court landing near Indiana’s Sophie Cunningham, the third occurrence this season at a WNBA game in recent weeks and first since the league issued a warning.

Cunningham had commented on social media about fans throwing the items on the court and Plum kicked it into the stands while Cunningham approached the Sparks bench and was laughing about it, the Associated Press reported.

“It’s ridiculous. It’s dumb. It’s stupid,” Los Angeles first-year coach Lynne Roberts said afterwards. “It’s also dangerous, and you know, player safety is No. 1, respecting the game, all those things. I think it’s really stupid.”

Added Plum, “I thought too we did a great job, Indiana included, just playing on, don't give it any attention. The refs, I really appreciate them, too.”

Los Angeles hosts Connecticut Thursday on the WNBA’s League pass while Indiana at the same time is at Phoenix on Prime Video.

New York’s Balanced Attack Helps Handle Dallas

Finals MVP Jonquel Jones double doubled with 15 points and 10 boards for the Liberty and Leonie Fiebich scored 14 points besides the 13 from Belgian native Meesseman in the Liberty win.

Natasha Cloud added 12 points and six assists while reserve Stephanie Talbot scored 13.

In addition to Siegrist and Bueckers, Dallas got 14 points from Arike Agunbowale, and 11 from Haley Jones, while Luisa Geieselsoder grabbed 10 boards.

Bueckers left the game briefly in the third with what she called a pulled muscle in her back.

“I just got it checked,” she said. ‘’ I think it’s just a pulled muscle. I felt a strain, I felt it tighten, so I’m just going to get it worked out, take some medicine, and go from there.”

Bueckers said of Siegrist, “She’s huge for this team. She’s literally one of the most experienced players playing here with the Wings.

“Having that experience and versatility — she can score at all three levels, get a ton of rebounds, has a hundred percent crash rate — she’s just creating extra opportunities for us on offense. She communicates really well, so her presence is huge.

“I think we have great chemistry,” Bueckers said of her former opponent when Villanova and UConn fought the Big East wars in college. “We play alike, and we feed off each other. We know each other’s tendencies because we play a similar style of basketball, so it’s been fun playing with her.”

The two teams are off until the game against each other back in Dallas at 7:30 p.m. on Friday on ION.

Thomas Triple Doubles Former Sun Team with Phoenix

Alyssa Thomas had her second straight triple double for Phoenix with 13 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists while Satou Sabally shot 9-for-12 and scored 23 in hitting Connecticut with its 10th straight road loss.

The native of Harrisburg who starred at Maryland has 14 career triple dubs in the regular season and four in the playoffs, most with the Sun she played before this season’s move to the Mercury.

The WNBA total is 50 snd the next best to Thomas is New York’s Sabrina Ionescu with four.

Thomas, who had ten each in category in Sunday’s win over Chicago, previously had two other consecutive triple doubles in June two seasons ago and in the 2022 playoffs in Games 3 and 4 of the Finals.

DeWanna Bonner had 18 points propelled by four makes from deep for the Mercury while Rutgers grad Kahleah Copper out of North Philly scored 15 points.

Connecticut’s Marina Mabrey scored 18 points while Tina Charles added 16 and French rookie Leila Lacan had 10 points, six steals and five boards and has 25 steals in eight consecutive games.

Chicago Slide Ends at Eight While Washington Skid Reaches Three

Call it a tale of two losing streaks Tuesday, though the Mystics’ shorter run has taken the team fromq inside the playoff fence to outside at 10th just 1.5 behind the cutoff point at eighth place Golden State.

The host Sky are just 2.5 ahead of rock bottom and five behind the Mystics.

Chicago got a pair of double doubles as Elizabeth Williams had 18 points and 10 points while second-year pro Kamilla Cardoso had 16 points and 13 boards for the Sky.

Ariel Atkins added 15 points while Michaela Onyenwere scored 12.

Washington’s rookie duo of Sonia Citron scored 13 and Kiki Iriafen collected 10 while second-round pick Lucy Olsen of Villanova and Iowa from Collegeville played a season-high 22 minutes shooting 3-5 with seven points.

The youngest roster in the league still has time for more transactions ahead of Thursdays 3 p.m. trade deadline.

For the rookies, Tuesday’s deals were eye openers.

“I think this is kind of my Welcome to the ‘W moment,” Kiki Olsen told the Washington Post. “(Sykes and Sika Kone’ – waived) mean so much to our team and, obviously, not having them with us anymore is really tough.

“So I think we’re just adjusting to that. It’s hard adjusting on a game day, but I think with this team, we have so much grit and we’re going to figure it out.”

“My mentality stays the same,” Citron said. “I’m going to keep playing the way I play.

“Obviously, there will be some adjustments. That’s just what it is. Everybody just has to do a little bit more because Slim impacted our team in so many ways. So, I don’t just feel that pressure. It’s the whole team.”