Lynx beat Liberty, still have chance at No. 1 seed in postseason

NEW YORK (AP) — Bridget Carleton scored 19 points and the Minnesota Lynx beat the New York Liberty 88-79 on Sunday to keep alive their chances at the top seed in the WNBA playoffs.

Napheesa Collier added 18 points and 13 rebounds for Minnesota (29-9), which needs to win its final two games and have New York (31-7) lose both to earn the top seed. The Lynx extended their lead over the Connecticut Sun for the No. 2 seed.

The Lynx came into Sunday with a one-game lead over the Sun, who played Las Vegas later in the day. Connecticut and Minnesota play on Tuesday for the final time in the regular season and the Sun already hold the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Breanna Stewart had a huge effort in the loss with 38 points and 18 rebounds. She had 17 of those points in the fourth quarter.

Minnesota got up early on New York before the Liberty rallied to within 52-39 at the half. The Lynx scored the first 11 points of the third quarter and were up 74-50 heading into the fourth before Stewart tried to rally the Liberty.

She had 13 points in the first 5:30 of the period to get New York within 80-72 and brought the sellout crowd to its feet.

Unfortunately New York could get no closer as Kayla McBride quieted the crowd hitting a deep 3-pointer to restore the double-digit advantage. The Liberty could only get within seven the rest of the way.

The Lynx shot 55% from the field in the first half. Even when New York seemed to have them stopped a couple of times, the Lynx turned broken plays into baskets when the ball bounced right into their hands.

The Liberty honored the NYU women's basketball team before the game. The Division III school went undefeated and won the national championship last spring.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball