Minnesota Lynx hand out an 80-62 hammering to the New York Liberty – WNBA Recap
Despite a slow start in the game, the Minnesota Lynx came charging back in their matchup against the New York Liberty to come away with an easy 80-62 win on Tuesday night at the Prudential Center, Newark, NJ.
The Lynx were led by their star player Seimone Augustus, who finished the game with 22 points on a 9 of 14 shooting night. Maya Moore and Rebekkah Brunson lent her a helping hand by managing to score 15 and 14 points respectively.
Taj McWilliams-Franklin also played well to finish with 10 points to her name.
Cappie Pondexter was the leading scorer for Liberty with 15 points in the game. Essence Carson came off the bench to contribute 13 points in the ball game whereas none of the other players were able to cross the double digit mark
in scoring.
Early in the ball game, there was not much to separate the two teams as scores remained almost level pegging. With just a tad above 6 minutes remaining in the first quarter, the score were level at 9. From that point on, the Minnesota
team managed 5 unanswered points, however by the end of the period, Liberty were able to make the score 16-18.
The early stages of the second quarter saw the home side keep the scores close and by the 5:06 mark in the period, the scores were tied at 29. From that point till the proceedings ended in the first half, Lynx managed to put together
a 15-4 run to hold a 44-33 lead at the halfway stage.
Minnesota shot the ball 60% from the field in the first half and were able to maintain their conversion rate above the 50% mark (52) before the end of the game.
Augustus was surprised with the figure, however she did contemplate that it felt good seeing those shots go in, after the game.
``It felt good, I didn't know it was that good,'' Augustus said ``Being patient on offense, making the extra pass. ... Their defense is so intense, they try to keep you on one side of the court.''
This free flowing offence continued for the Lynx in the second half as they continued to hold their advantage above the double figure mark. Despite the best efforts from this Liberty team to try and stay close in the game, they
were unable to cut the lead down and by the end of the third quarter, Minnesota were leading 62-50.
A similar kind of script was played out in the final quarter of the game as the shots just kept on coming for the Lynx. They started the fourth period with a 6-2 burst and continued to prolong their lead.
By the 1:56 mark of the final quarter, Lynx had achieved their biggest lead on the night at 20.
In the final minute of the ball game, even though the New York side outscored the Lynx 6-4, however it did not have much effect on the eventual outcome of the game as the visitors clearly showed that why they are the reigning WNBA
champs and took this by an ample margin of 18 points.
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