June 21 is looking like an increasingly important day on the WNBA calendar. That is when the Minnesota Lynx and Los Angeles Sparks are set to meet for their first matchup against each other this season.
That game will be at the Staples Center and there is a good chance both teams will still be unbeaten by the time that game tips from LA Live.
Both teams continued their respective winning ways this previous weekend. The Sparks only played one game this weekend—on the road at the College Park Center in Arlington against the Dallas Wings
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It was not only the first game that saw Skylar Diggins play a substantial amount of minutes after returning from an ACL injury, but Glory Johnson also returned for Dallas.
Led by 32 points and 10 rebounds from Nneka Ogwumike, the Sparks managed to stay undefeated as they defeated the Wings, 97-73. Diggins, Odyssey Sims, and Aerial Powers combined for 47 of the team’s 73 points.
In the fourth quarter of that game, Candace Parker took an inadvertent elbow to the face which left her bleeding from the nose. She did not return to the game.
As for the Lynx, they played in a pair of games this week that also resulted in a pair of victories. The first was in Atlanta against the Dream, arguably the biggest surprise of the season.
This game saw the Lynx only leading by one (46-45) at the half. Maya Moore was held to only nine points and was in early foul trouble with three fouls in the first half—sending her temporarily to the bench. In fact, both teams combined for 45 free throw attempts in the first half as it seemed that more basketball was being played from the line than on the rest of the court.
The second half belonged entirely to the Lynx as they outscored the Dream 64-33 in the final two periods en route to a blowout 110-78 victory over Atlanta. Minnesota had six players in double digits for scoring, including Moore who concluded with 19 and Sylvia Fowles who added another double-double to the Minnesota effort with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
The Lynx’s tilt against the Washington Mystics would be similar to that of their game vs. Atlanta—a close one through one half with Washington ahead 47-45. The Lynx practically won this game in the third quarter when they held Washington to only eight points and outscoring them by 15, 23-8. Minnesota would win this one 83-76 against the Mystics.
Going back to the Dream for a second…they managed to rebound from what turned out to be a blowout loss at home to Minnesota by defeating the Connecticut Sun by seven, 83-76. The charity stripe for the Sun in this game was no charity as they only managed to make 14 of their 26 attempts from the line.
The Dream were a bit more efficient from the line, making 16 of their 21. Elizabeth Williams in particular was efficient throughout this game with a 20 point, 10 rebound performance. Atlanta also got 19 from Layshia Clarendon and 18 from Angel McCoughtry.
Prior to the Dream, it was the Seattle Storm on the other side of the court of a Sun game, but that contest resulted in a victorious Connecticut team as they defeated the Storm 77-76. One big reason for that was a relatively off game for Breanna Stewart.
In her return to Connecticut, she did put in a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds, but she was only four for 14 from the field. Sue Bird finished with 24 points.
It was only the second victory this season for the Sun. Morgan Tuck had 20 and Alyssa Thomas ended up with 15, including a game-winning putback that would be the margin of victory for the Sun.
The Storm’s road trip continued on Sunday at Indiana when they faced the Fever. If judging by the conclusion of the first quarter, one would think that game would be a blowout as well. After all at the end of the first, the Storm led the Fever 29-12 despite Stewart not making a field goal.
What was a 17-point lead at the end of one quarter only resulted in a two-point margin of victory for Seattle. One huge element of that was a 27-point performance courtesy of Tamika Catchings.
On the Seattle side, Jewell Loyd had 20, Crystal Langhorne put in 17, and Sue Bird added 16.
This weekend homestand for Indiana was not kind to them. Don’t just ask Seattle, but also the Chicago Sky who came into town to face them this past Friday.
Thanks to 16 points and 12 rebounds from Imani Boyette, another 14 from Elena Delle Donne, 10 from Cappie Pondexter, and a Fever team that shot a cold four for 24 from three-point range, Chicago left the Hoosier State with a 73-64 victory.
Only Briann January had a double-digit point output for the Fever as she finished with 17 points.
Some basketball games follow the common “tale of two halves” theme. The Sky’s road matchup against the Phoenix Mercury in Arizona did just that. Chicago led 47-36 at the half, but were outscored themselves by a margin of 50-33 in the final two quarters which led to the Mercury claiming victory in this one, 86-80.
Fifty-one of Phoenix’s 86 points came from two players—Diana Taurasi (31) and DeWanna Bonner (20). The Mercury also made more free throws (29 out of 34) than were attempted by the Sky (15 out of 18). For Chicago, Delle Donne had 18 points.
The only other game on the weekend docket saw the New York Liberty travel to San Antonio to play the Stars. The Liberty were in the news this past week as Swin Cash announced that she would be retiring from the WNBA after this season.
This would be another one of those close games that eventually had wide margins. Thanks to a 28-14 fourth quarter for the Liberty, it would be 90-75 New York when triple-zeroes appeared on the scoreboard.
New York got 22 from Sugar Rodgers and 21 via Tina Charles. For San Antonio, Astou Ndour had 18 and Kayla McBride added 15.
By: Akiem Bailum (@AkiemBailum on Twitter, Instagram)
