Seimone Augustus was feeling much better Sunday than after the Lynx's season-opening loss two days before. She was hungry, too, as the paper plate of small wieners in her hands suggested.
On Sunday, Augustus scored 17 points, 15 in the first half, to lead the Lynx past the Los Angeles Sparks 86-69 in their first home game. Five other Lynx players also scored in double figures, delighting an announced crowd of 10,123 at Target Center. At least 7,000 with tickets actually came.
What they saw was a much different game than Friday's meeting between the teams at the Staples Center. Los Angeles beat the Lynx that night for the eighth consecutive time, 82-74. Augustus, a sixth-year veteran, took it personally.
"I didn't sleep too well and I didn't eat either. Just focusing on the game," said Augustus, who scored only six points. Every shot she took seemed to go in and out.
Augustus, whose career average is 20.3 points, said she tried to be aggressive Sunday from the start. She made her first two shots in the first 1 minute, 19 seconds.
"[Seimone] said enough is enough with this L.A. thing," Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. "We had a short conversation and the game plan was to get Mone off early. If she can get off early, then she feels pretty good."
Augustus made seven of 15 shots from the field, including one three-pointer, and also had five rebounds, two assists and two blocks.
"You saw a lot of determination on [Lynx] faces tonight, especially Augustus," Sparks coach Jen Gillom said. "From the beginning of the game she came out with a will to win. You saw it right away. We did a good job on her in L.A. but she thought, 'I am the leader of this team and I need to put this team on my back.' And I thought she did a great job."
