Lynx revert to old habits before rally falls short in loss to Dallas

From start to finish, the player with the most reason to struggle stood tall Thursday at Target Center.

Sylvia Fowles is in her last season. She is the oldest player on the Lynx. She has played much of the season on a sore knee, more recently with some plantar fasciitis pain, too. In Tuesday's double-overtime victory Fowles played nearly 37 minutes.

That Fowles was able to come out against Dallas, battle in the post, play 27 minutes, hit nine of 14 shots, score 20 points with 17 rebounds, in the process of passing Rebekkah Brunson to become the all-time franchise leader in defensive rebounds?

Inspiring.

It's too bad the rest of the Lynx starters weren't as inspired in a 92-87 loss.

"Syl was terrific for us," Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. "But Dallas' physicality and athleticism was a problem for our perimeter."

Other than Fowles and Rachel Banham — who came off the bench to score 24 points on 8-for-12 shooting — Thursday was one of those nights for a Lynx team that looked more like the one from a month ago than the one that had pushed itself into the playoff conversation of late by winning six of eight games.

Fowles and Banham were a combined 17-for-26 while scoring 44 of Minnesota's 87 points. The rest of the starters? They went 8-for-36. The rest of the team? Thirteen for 44.

Even Banham is sometimes amazed by Fowles.

"I think that every night," she said. "When I'm tired, feeling some sort of way I think, 'If Syl can do it, I can do it.' I don't know how she does it."

It wasn't enough Thursday. The Lynx made four of 17 shots while falling behind by nine after a quarter. By halftime the Dallas lead was up to 21.

Except for one, bright, shiny third quarter — Fowles had 10 points in a 30-14 quarter that made it a five-point game — this game was a clunker. Dallas opened the fourth on an 8-0 run, pushing the lead back to 13. Banham, who had 16 fourth-quarter points, drew the Lynx within three with a trey with 23.2 seconds left, but the Lynx couldn't get another stop.

Fowles has dealt with a lot. Late in Tuesday's game she was kicked in the stomach by Phoenix guard Diana Taurasi, who didn't draw a foul. But, according to Fowles Thursday, she was informed Taurasi had drawn a fine.

But she just keeps going. "When everything hurts, you just can't buy into it," said Fowles, who scored the first four points of the third quarter. "Because you're on a mission, with things to do. That's the mentality you have to have. I don't want to give myself excuses. Tonight was a challenge to see how I could push through it."

Struggling to defend Dallas' pick-and-roll game, the Lynx had Arike Ogunbowale go off for 32 points, by 10 points the most she has ever scored against the Lynx. Allisha Gray added 17. The Wings (11-13) shot 47.8% overall and turned 17 Minnesota turnovers into 26 points.

After the game Reeve was unhappy with players other than Banham when it came to getting the ball to Fowles. She wondered if the team had studied the scouting report on Ogunbowale at all. She knew the Wings, after being routed in their last game here, would come out hard. The Lynx didn't match that effort level.

"We have to play like we're desperate," Banham said. "If we want to make a playoff run we have play like we did in the second half from start to finish. We need to play [mad]. I'm hoping that's what we do [Friday]."