The struggles on the offensive side of the floor early on in the season were too much for the Minnesota Lynx to overcome on Wednesday night in New York.
After struggling from the field and falling behind early, while finishing shooting 40.6 percent from the field, the Lynx lost 75-69 to the New York Liberty at Westchester County Center.
With the loss, Minnesota fell to 4-3 overall on the season and has lost two straight games for the first time in 2019. New York, meanwhile, won its second straight game after picking up its first win of the season last Sunday against Las Vegas.
In the opening quarter on Wednesday night, the Lynx struggled mightily from the field and fell behind the Liberty 19-10 after the first frame. Minnesota shot just 27.8 percent in the first quarter, while New York shot 52.9 percent from the field.
The offense didn’t get much better for the Lynx to round out the half, as they went into halftime shooting 29.3 percent, including shooting 2 of 16 from 3. Minnesota, which trailed New York by as many as 15 points and took a 38-28 deficit into the break, allowed the Liberty to shoot 50 percent despite it only making two 3s of its own on 11 attempts.
The Lynx started to find a rhythm on offense out of halftime, resulting in them outscoring the Liberty 22-17 in the third quarter to cut the New York lead to 55-50 going into the final 10 minutes of play.
In the fourth quarter, Minnesota was able to cut the deficit down to two points, but New York was able to hold off the late-game comeback attempt to top the Lynx.
Sylvia Fowles finished with a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds to lead the way for the Lynx. With her 16 points, she officially passed former Lynx Taj McWilliams-Franklin for 20th place on the WNBA’s all-time scoring list.
Behind Fowles, Odyssey Sims added 14 points, five rebounds and five assists, Danielle Robinson had 12 points and seven assists, Damiris Dantas had a nice second half to finish with nine points and eight rebounds and Lexie Brown grabbed eight points and three assists off the bench.
Kia Nurse was doing it all for New York in the win, leading the Liberty with 26 points, four assists and three rebounds. Asia Durr had a stellar first half to finish with 20 points, Amanda Zahui B had 15 points and 13 rebounds and Tina Charles finished with 12 points and eight boards for New York.
Turnovers continued to be an issue for the Lynx in the loss, committing 21 turnovers in the game. Minnesota was also out-rebounded 37-32 and allowed New York to grab 13 steals in the defeat.
Minnesota will look to get back to its winning ways when it returns home to kick off a three-game homestand starting on Friday night at Target Center, when the Lynx will host the Connecticut Sun at 7 p.m. in Minneapolis.
