Little things turned Connecticut game around for Lynx, Mama Taj says

Veteran center Taj McWilliams-Franklin said she felt as if the Lynx were down by 15 points against Connecticut in the fourth quarter on Friday, but the deficit was only five points.

"It was a manageable game," said McWilliams-Franklin after the Lynx beat the Sun 85-72. "Coach [Cheryl Reeve] came into the huddle and talked about the small things, one block out, one rebound, one pass, no home run stuff.

"I think we buckled down and focused on the little things that we should have done through the first three quarters," said McWilliams-Franklin, according to a Sun news release.

With the victory, the Lynx are 6-0 for the first time in franchise history. It was also their first win in Connecticut since 2004.

"It feels great for me because I used to play here," said McWilliams-Franklin, who had nine points and seven rebounds, "but it was important for us because we came back against a superior foe. It is great for our confidence.

"We played really poorly from start to finish in Washington [on Wednesday in a 79-77 win] and ended up barely winning. We started that way here [Friday] and all the way until 8:31 in the fourth, but then we talked about managing the small things and then things turned around for us."
Tina Charles, a second-year 6-4 center, led Connecticut with 20 points and 12 rebounds and impressed the rival center, in her 14th WNBA season.

"I just like the way that [Charles] goes about her day-to-day affairs," McWilliams-Franklin said. "As a young player, when you come in and just work hard, and you don't see her complaining on the court, you don't see that out of a lot of the young players in this league. She is all about playing as hard as she can possibly play and staying within herself."

SATURDAY IN WNBA

Indiana remained the only other unbeaten WNBA -- besides the Lynx -- by squashing New York 91-68. The Fever (4-0) made 13 of 26 three-point attempts. Ex-Lynx Roneeka Hodges, off the bench, was four of nine on threes and had 15 points.

Tamika Catchings, the league's MVP last season, had 16 points.

Indy reserves outscored bench players for the Liberty (0-5) by 52-18. Plenette Pierson led NY with 24 points. Attendance was 8,006.

* There was shootout in Atlanta. Epiphany Prince of Chicago and Angel McCoughtry of Atlanta each scored 33 points, but the visiting Sky won 94-92 in overtime.

Prince,a guard, was four of eight on three-pointers. She hit one of them at the end of regulation to tie the score, and then had all of the Sky's eight points in overtime.

She was coming off a 31-point game on Friday against Washtingon.

Sylvia Fowles, a 6-6 center, also had a huge game for the Sky with 20 points and 19 rebounds. It was her fifth double-double in five games.

Those two were just enough to offset McCoughtry, who was 17 for 17 at the free throw line. Atlanta made 31 of 37 free throw attempts. The Sky 16 of 20 at the foul line.

The Sky, who trailed by as many as 22 points in the opening quarter, outrebounded the Dream 48-23. No player had more than four for Atlanta.

The Dream seem to really miss center Erika de Souza, who is practicing with Brazil for the Olympics. Attendance was 4,503.