Lynx top Indiana, tie franchise record with 27th victory of season

INDIANAPOLIS – A game after resting point guard Lindsay Whalen and losing in Chicago, the Lynx gave Seimone Augustus the night off at Indiana and again limited the minutes of its other starters.

This time Minnesota, which has clinched the top seed in the WNBA playoffs, managed to win. The Lynx on Friday defeated the Fever 82-75 behind 44 points from their bench and Maya Moore's hot hand in the fourth.

The Lynx, ahead just 59-58 after three quarters, outscored Indiana 23-17 the final 10 minutes. Moore had 11 of those points to finish with a team-high 15.

"We thought we had a little more activity on defense," Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said of the final quarter. "We had 10 deflections in the fourth quarter. I think that allowed us to be a little more disruptive."

Rookie forward Keisha Hampton led the reserves with a season-high 13 point while Renee Montgomery added 10, matching starting center Sylvia Fowles' total in 15 minutes.

"We executed and all 11 of us did it together," Hampton said. "Our bench was big, which we're going to need that going into the playoffs. And I think we came out and got the job done."

With the victory, the Lynx (27-6) tied a franchise record for most wins in a single season (2011, 2012) with one game left. They also matched their best road-record ever at 13-4 (also in 2011).

Catchings, who is retiring at the end of this, her 15th season, also had four rebounds to become the league's all-time leader in that statistic. She has 3,308 rebounds now, one more than former Los Angeles Sparks star Lisa Leslie.

The Lynx shot 50.8 percent from the field and went 6-for-9 on threes, with Hampton making four of those.