It still is the first week of the 2019 WNBA season, but the Minnesota Lynx are officially the last remaining team in the league to carry an undefeated record.
The Lynx took down the Dallas Wings 70-67 in their first road game of the season on Saturday night at College Park Center in Arlington, Tex.
With the win, Minnesota improves to a perfect 3-0 record on the year. It is the eighth time in franchise history that the Lynx have started the season off with a perfect record after three games, last doing so in 2017 when they went on to win the WNBA title.
The Lynx kicked off the game rolling, jumping out to a 16-14 lead after the first quarter while extending that lead to 41-27 going into halftime after outscoring the Wings 25-13 in the second quarter.
In the second half, Dallas battled its way back to try and put together a comeback at home against Minnesota.
The Wings outscored the Lynx 18-10 in the third quarter and 22-19 in the fourth quarter to try and pull off a late-game comeback, but Minnesota ultimately held Dallas off to come away with the victory.
Damiris Dantas put together her best performance of the season to lead the way for Minnesota. Dantas, who was signed by the Lynx as a free agent this offseason, finished with a team-best 20 points — shooting 7 of 13 from the field — and added five rebounds, four assists and three steals in 34 minutes of action.
Dantas’ 20 points are the most she has scored in a game since she finished with 22 points in 2017 and it is the first time this season she has led the team in scoring.
Behind Dantas, Sylvia Fowles tallied a double-double of 19 points and 12 rebounds, moving her career total in rebounds to 3,065. She is now five rebounds away from surpassing Tina Thompson for fourth on the all-time WNBA rebounding list.
In her third consecutive start at guard, Odyssey Sims finished with yet another nice all-around game for Minnesota, tallying 12 points, five assists and four rebounds. Danielle Robinson added eight points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals, Napheesa Collier added five points and five rebounds and Lexie Brown finished with six points off the bench.
Kayla Thornton tallied 12 points and four rebounds and rookie guard Arike Ogunbowale added 11 points, two rebounds and two assists for Dallas, which drops to 0-2 on the year with the loss.
Minnesota finished shooting 40 percent from the field in the game, including going 5 of 19 from 3. It also displayed good ball movement and offensive flow in the win, assisting on 18 of its 26 total field goals.
The Lynx continued to display their stellar defensive performance to start the season, holding the Wings to just 37.5 percent shooting from the field. Minnesota has now held its opponents under 40 percent shooting in all three games this year, moving the franchise’s all-time record to 108-3 when holding opponents under that 40 percent shooting mark.
Minnesota will remain on the road as it continues on in its current two-game road trip. The Lynx will try to remain undefeated on the year when they take on the Seattle Storm at 9 p.m. Tuesday in Seattle before returning home to host the Phoenix Mercury at 7 p.m. Thursday at Target Center.
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