Lynx continue surge over Sparks, beat L.A. for third time this season

Napheesa Collier recorded her third double-double of the season to help the Lynx grind out a 67-61 victory over the Los Angeles Sparks at crypto.com Arena.

It's Minnesota's third victory over the Sparks this season, including two in Los Angeles. The Lynx have won three of their last four games.

Collier led all players with 16 points and 14 rebounds. She was the only Lynx player to make more than half of her shot attempts. She made 12 of 20 while the rest of the team made just 14 of 47.

"Rebounding is something we talked about. I'd be on her a little bit when she'd have four or five rebounds," Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve said. "She's had some big games. We talked today about how desperately we needed that from her. We were outmatched in terms of some of the size they were coming with, but [she] got in there and competed more. I thought she was pretty greedy under the basket, which was nice. In terms of offense, she's really found her way. Her getting going coincides with our being more successful."

While it was an ugly night on the offensive end of the floor for the Lynx, they won on defense. They held the Sparks to 37.7 percent shooting from the floor and forced 17 turnovers. Tiffany Mitchell had five steals, including a game-sealing interception with 15.1 seconds left.

Bridget Carleton made a pair of three-point shots early in the fourth quarter, including a 23-foot shot with 7:39 left that gave the Lynx the lead for good. She finished with 14 points, including four made three-point shots and two free throws in the final seconds of the game.

"For [Carleton], that was her time to step up," Reeve said. "She got good opportunities to score the ball and she was big for us both on that end as well as defensively. [She's] probably, of all the players, her fight and her will was pretty strong."

The Lynx (4-8) got off to a slow start missing their first six shots of the game. Nikolina Milic finally got them on the board 4:05 into the game. Milic scored nine points and four assists off the bench.

"Both teams were playing each other for the third time in a week. Everything you got in those other two, you were not going to get tonight," Reeve said. "It was just matter who was going to find a way to score and luckily for us [Collier] did."

Nneka Ogwumike led the Sparks (5-7) with 20 points and nine rebounds. Jordin Canada had 10 points and five assists.

Lynx forward Dorka Juhasz left the game with 1:32 left in the first half because of an injury. She was hit in the face by Ogwumike while intercepting a pass from Canada. Reeve did not have an update after the game.

The Star Tribune did not send the writer of this article to the game. This was written using a broadcast, interviews and other material.