Wiggins picks up where she left off

The third overall draft choice from Stanford entered the game and began scoring quickly.

By ROMAN AUGUSTOVIZ, Star Tribune

Last update: May 1, 2008 - 10:21 PM

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PRESEASON: LYNX 68, CONNECTICUT 57

Up next: 6 p.m. Wednesday at Indiana • No TV or radio

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Candice Wiggins drove into the lane and made a sweet-looking, 5-foot jump shot Thursday midway through the first quarter. The shot felt as good to her as it looked.

"That's what happened to me in my first exhibition game at Stanford," said Wiggins, taken by the Lynx with the No. 3 pick overall in the WNBA draft last month. "I think I scored 18 points in that game, too. I made a layup on my first shot, and I kind of knew my career at Stanford would be OK."

The 5-11 guard finished as the career leading scorer in Pac-10 history.

In the Lynx' first exhibition game, Wiggins didn't start, but scored 11 seconds after she came in. She was seven of 16 from the field, making one three-pointer and three free throws for her game-high 18 points in Minnesota's 68-57 victory over Connecticut before an announced midday crowd of 1,155 at Target Center.

Not all the day's news was good. The Lynx's two top point guards, Lindsey Harding and Noelle Quinn, watched the game from behind the bench in street clothes.

Harding has a stress fracture in her left kneecap and said she expects to be out about four weeks. She was injured while playing for the U.S. national team in an international tournament in China that ended Saturday.

"I just need to take some time off," said Harding, who missed the last 20 games of last season because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament in the same knee. Harding, the No. 1 pick in the 2007 WNBA draft, had been averaging 11.7 points per game.

Quinn's status is day-to-day because of a strained left quadriceps.

The other two rookies the Lynx took in this year's draft started against the Sun and played extensively. Nicky Anosike, a 6-2 center from Tennessee, scored nine points and had a game-high 10 rebounds. Charde Houston, a 6-1 forward from Connecticut, had eight points and four rebounds.

More surprising was Brittney Vaughn, a free agent who signed late. The 5-6 rookie point guard from Arkansas had 14 points and three steals in 29 minutes.

She made a smart move signing with the Lynx, considering how few healthy point guards the team has. Coach Don Zier-den said the team might sign another soon.

A third veteran point guard, this one a Sun player, also watched Thursday's game.

Former Gophers star Lindsay Whalen did not play because she had just rejoined her team after playing in Europe.