lynx/wnba

For the second year in a row, the Lynx finished the season 10-24 on Sunday and at or near the bottom of the WNBA.

But the mood of team officials and players at the end this year was different. Optimistic, in one word, after the Lynx beat playoff-bound San Antonio 81-55 at Target Center with four players scoring in double figures.

The Silver Stars rested their starters.

Forget the circumstances. First-year coach Don Zierden liked what he saw in the second half of this last game and during the final 13 games, when Minnesota was 5-8.

"We lost to Houston by three and to Washington in overtime," he said, referring to that stretch. "We easily could have had a winning record."

The Lynx won their final game before an annnounced crowd of 7,377 by outscoring San Antonio 30-10 in the third quarter to take a 58-39 lead. Rookie guard Noelle Quinn, the one starter with fewer than 12 points, had eight points but, more important, a team-record 14 assists. She also tied the team single-season record for assists with 148.

Kristen Mann had a team-high 19 points, Svetlana Abrosimova 18, Seimone Augustus 12 and Nicole Ohlde 12. San Antonio (20-14) was led by guard Shanna Crossley with 20.

"We thought we would win more games," said Roger Griffith, the Lynx's chief operating officer. "We thought we would be right there on the edge of a playoff spot. But the way this team fought, the way some of our rookies improved as the year went on, we really feel like we are a player or two away from being a very good basketball team."

After a draft day trade in early April for the No. 1 pick, Lindsey Harding joined the team and became the point guard. Fellow first-year guards Quinn and Shay Murphy, the No. 4 and 15 picks, further strengthened the perimeter. It seemed Augustus, the rookie of the year the season before, had the help she had asked for.

But then the 34-game regular season began. The Lynx started 0-7 and had an 0-10 stretch in the middle.

"If you take a look at our defense inside, people hurt us there," Zierden said. "We will have to change the roster. A lot of that is going to depend on the pingpong balls. There are a couple of bigs we really covet."

Odds are the Lynx will get an intimidating presence in the next draft. The five nonplayoff teams will take part in a lottery in late October to determine the exact order of the top picks, and the Lynx will have either a 42 or 26 percent chance of getting the No. 1 pick.

Sylvia Fowles, a 6-6 senior center and former teammate of Augustus at Louisiana State, and Candace Parker, a 6-4 junior phenom at reigning NCAA champion Tennessee eligible to come out if she wants, appear to be the two players most likely to turn a franchise around quickly.

"I'd have to go with my girl from LSU," Augustus said, asked her preference. "I think [Parker] is coming out. Either one would be good. Both are great players."

As for this season, Augustus saw progress from 2006. "This year was totally different from last year," Augustus said. "We came out, we competed in the games we lost. Last year we lost by double figures, maybe 20, 30 points some games. This year we had games we lost by eight points, 10 points or less. That says a lot about where we come from in terms of competing and fighting every night."

Harding was playing well, too, until she was injured July 10 and had season-ending knee surgery 10 days later, maybe costing her the chance to be voted the rookie of the year.

Griffith said she still should get the award despite missing the last 14 games.

Guards Armintie Price of the Chicago Sky and Sidney Spencer of the Los Angeles Sparks are rated ahead of Harding among rookies by wnba.com, but her statistics are better. Harding averaged 11.7 points and 3.9 assists.