Lynx upended 90-79 by fast-paced Seattle Storm

Here is how Wednesday's game between the Lynx and Seattle started at Target Center:

The Lynx won the tip but turned the ball over. At the other end a Minnesota defender went under a screen, leaving Natasha Howard wide-open for a three-pointer.

Freeze that image.

Because for the first three quarters, this is how the game went. Which is why Seattle's final 11-point margin in its 90-79 victory is a little misleading.

And why coach Cheryl Reeve was trying so hard to bite her tongue after it ended.

"I'll listen to my mom,'' she said. "I don't have a lot of nice things to say about our defense.''

To put it mildly.

Seattle was up 16 after Whitcomb hit a three-pointer with 8:05 left in the game.

And then?

Almost.

Scoring 12 points off seven Seattle turnovers, the Lynx stormed back. The frenetic 19-4 Lynx run pulled Minnesota within one point on Danielle Robinson's baseline jumper with 3 minutes, 33 seconds left.

Howard then missed at the other end. Robinson had an open 16-footer, but missed.

The Storm settled down and scored the game's final 10 points to secure the victory.

The run was a 4½-minute exception to the way Seattle ruled. The rest of the game Seattle outscored the Lynx 86-60.

Howard took advantage of her matchup with rookie Napheesa Collier to score a career-high 33 points on 12-for-21 shooting. Alysha Clark and Jordin Canada each scored 12.

The Lynx (10-8) got 20 points from Lexie Brown off the bench, signaling, perhaps, the end of her mini-shooting slump. Ten of those came in that 19-4 run. Sylvia Fowles had 16, Robinson 14.

Other than that? Seattle slew.

The Storm's 26 points in the first quarter and 50 points at the half were season-highs by a Lynx foe, as were its 12 made three-pointers.

"It's very frustrating to have a game plan, you go and work on things, and you don't get it done,'' Fowles said. "It's quite frustrating.''

In the end, Seattle's 53.2% shooting was hard to overcome. Afterward Reeve tried — sometimes unsuccessfully — to hold her tongue, at one point suggesting her 4½-year-old son Oliver was yelling from his seat for the Lynx not to go under picks.

"If you were at our shoot-around and listened to what the game plan was, and then watched us play?'' she said.

"Just wasn't very good. … I don't like getting run out of the gym on your home court.''