After one of the more disappointing losses of the season at the hands of the Seattle Storm on Wednesday night in Minneapolis, the Minnesota Lynx looked to bounce back on on the road on Sunday in Las Vegas.
In the final road game prior to the All-Star break, the disappointment continued for the Lynx, falling to the Las Vegas Aces 79-74 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
With the loss, Minnesota has now lost two in a row and dropped to 10-9 overall on the season. Las Vegas, now winners in five of its last six games, moved to 12-6 on the year with the victory.
To kick off the game on Sunday, both teams started things off rolling offensively. In a back-and-forth opening 10 minutes, the Aces were able to rattle off a late run to hold a 29-25 advantage going into the second quarter.
To finish off the first half, the Lynx were able to cut a nine-point deficit in the second quarter down to just two while heading into halftime trailing 39-37.
Despite Sylvia Fowles sitting for a majority of the second quarter with foul trouble, Stephanie Talbot came off the bench and provided a nice spark for Minnesota to battle back into the game.
Talbot, who moved back to the bench with Damiris Dantas returning to the starting lineup, tallied nine of her 14 points in the first half for the Lynx, which shot 48.5 percent in the half. Minnesota was able to hold Las Vegas to shooting 41.2 percent from the field during the same span.
Out of halftime, the Lynx began the third quarter on a 10-5 run to jump out to a lead for the first time since the early minutes of the game. The Aces, however, answered back in the latter half of the third to even things up at 54-54 through 30 minutes of action.
In the fourth quarter, Liz Cambage helped the Aces turn things up a notch to come away with the win. Cambage, who finished with a season-high 22 points and 13 rebounds in the game, paced Las Vegas to outscoring Minnesota 25-20 in the fourth to defend its home court.
Behind Cambage, Kayla McBride ended up with 20 points, Dearica Hamby had 14 points and seven rebounds while filing in for the injured A’ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum tallied 10 points and eight assists for the Aces, who shot 45.2 percent from the field in the win.
Odyssey Sims did all she could to help push the Lynx back into the game, finishing with a team-best 19 points, four assists and three rebounds.
Talbot ended with 14 points, five rebounds and three assists, Fowles added 14 points, five rebounds and three steals and Napheesa Collier tallied eight points, six rebounds and three blocks for Minnesota, which shot 45.6 percent from the field.
Minnesota returns home for one final game before the All-Star break when it hosts the Washington Mystics at noon on Wednesday at Target Center. The day game will be aired on Fox Sports GO, NBA TV and 106.1 FM.
