Seimone Augustus was nonexistent most of the game.

The Lynx star remained scoreless through the first 28 minutes Saturday against the Chicago Sky. It didn't matter. Lindsay Whalen and her teammates picked up the slack.

By the time Augustus scored her first field goal, the Lynx had a 10-point cushion a minute from the fourth quarter. Chicago wouldn't come any closer, as the Lynx won 79-67 behind Whalen's 25 points and eight assists.

Augustus, who poured in 26 points against New York Thursday, chipped in 10 points on 4-of-9 shooting.

"I think it was [Whalen's] best game of the season all around," Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. "Offensively, I needed her to be good off the pick and roll. She got the game ball."

The Lynx improved to a franchise-best 12-1 and extended their home-winning streak to 13, counting last year's playoffs.

"I just wanted to be aggressive and make things happen," Whalen said. "You keep shooting."

Entering the game, seven of the 12 meetings between the teams have been decided by six points or fewer. Not this one.

Epiphany Prince's absence, Reeve acknowledged, factored into Chicago's double-digit loss. The Sky (7-3) was playing its first game this season without Prince, who fractured her right foot at Indiana on June 16. The WNBA's second-leading scorer averaged 22.3 points. Sylvia Fowles shouldered most of the offense for Chicago, scoring 22 points.

"Twenty-three points a game. Of course, it is a loss," Sky coach Pokey Chatman said. "We had to find different ways to play different areas of your game, because one player does not replace [Prince]."

Despite never trailing, the Lynx had their own offensive troubles down the stretch, specifically in the third quarter when they went stagnant.

"We kind of got on one side of the floor and tried to make plays too fast," Whalen said. "Once we swung the ball and got everyone involved, things got better for us."

During that stretch, a double-digit lead dwindled to five. The Lynx responded and rebuilt their cushion to 11 as Augustus hit a three-pointer at the third-quarter buzzer.

The first breakdown had come when Sonja Petrovic's jumper cut the Chicago deficit to five in the second quarter. But the Lynx stormed back to close the half on a 15-2 run.

"We always can use those periods to say that we need to learn to do this in the future or not do that as much," said Taj McWilliams-Franklin, who had 12 points and five assists.