UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) — Napheesa Collier scored 25 points before passing to Bridget Carleton for the go-ahead 3-pointer with 3.4 seconds left, and the Minnesota Lynx beat the Connecticut Sun 78-76 on Tuesday night to secure the No. 2 seed in the WNBA playoffs.
Minnesota (30-9) will host No. 7-seeded Phoenix on Sunday when the best-of-three playoffs open. Connecticut (27-12) is currently third with one game remaining in the regular season and would be home against Indiana on Sunday. The Sun are home against Chicago on Thursday.
Connecticut and Minnesota traded misses with just under a minute left before Alyssa Thomas hit from near the foul line to give the Sun a 74-73 lead with 22 seconds to go. Collier answered 10 seconds later with a turnaround fadeaway on the left side of the lane.
Connecticut got a quick basket out of a timeout with Thomas finding DeWanna Bonner under the basket with 8.5 seconds to play. After a reset timeout, meaning no huddle, Collier kicked the ball out of Carleton for a 3-pointer from well behind the line. The Sun took their reset timeout but Bonner threw the ball away on the inbounds pass.
Kayla McBride had 14 points and Carleton added 11 for the Lynx, who lost the first two meetings with the Sun by a total of six points. Courtney Williams had eight points and a season-high 12 assists.
Thomas had 18 points and 10 assists for Connecticut. DiJonai Carrington scored 15 points, Marina Mabrey had 13 and Brionna Jones 10.
Minnesota was up 69-62 with four minutes to play when Bonner scored on a drive and then hit a 3-pointer before Carrington’s three-point play put Connecticut up 70-69 with 2:25 to go.
McBride it a 3-pointer as time expired to pull the Lynx into a 22-22 tie after one quarter. With Collier scoring 14 points, Minnesota led 42-37 at the half.
Connecticut was down 57-50 with less than three minutes left in the third quarter but Williams hit consecutive baskets and Myisha Hines-Allen added a free throw to quickly push the lead to 12, the largest of the game. The Lynx led 62-53 when the quarter ended.
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