NEW YORK (AP) — Kayla McBride scored 18 points and DiJonai Carrington added 15 to help the Minnesota Lynx beat the New York Liberty 83-71 on Sunday.
The teams will meet three times over the next nine days with New York having back-to-back games on the west coast before heading to Minnesota to play Saturday. The Lynx are off until that game.
Both sides were short-handed with New York missing Breanna Stewart (knee) and Minnesota playing without Napheesa Collier (ankle).
This was the first game between the teams at Barclays Center since New York won the decisive Game 5 of the WNBA Finals last fall.
New York (20-11) was up 47-40 early in the third quarter before Minnesota went on a 24-7 run over the next 6 minutes to go up 64-54 on Natisha Hiedeman's 3-pointer from the wing. The Lynx (27-5) hit five 3-pointers and had one three-point play during the game-changing burst. Minnesota led 66-57 heading into the fourth quarter and put the game away early in the final period behind Carrington, who the Lynx picked up last week in a deal with Dallas before the trade deadline.
Natasha Cloud scored 14 points to lead New York, which saw its bench outscored 34-19 by Minnesota.
After an entertaining first quarter that saw Minnesota lead 25-24, the game slowed down in the second and the Liberty had a 38-36 advantage at the half. Courtney Williams had eight points, seven assists and four rebounds in the opening 20 minutes for the Lynx.
Minnesota picked up former Liberty guard Jaylyn Sherrod on Saturday. New York cut Sherrod when the team added Emma Meesseman to the roster. The team played a highlight video to honor Sherrod before the game which drew a loud ovation from the crowd.
New York also inducted former star Tari Phillips into the team's ring of honor at halftime. The team honored about two dozen former players at the end of the first quarter with the loudest ovation coming for Teresa Weatherspoon, who was introduced last.
___
