Lynx win again over Sparks, 77-72 on the road

Napheesa Collier took over in the second half to rally the Lynx past Los Angeles 77-72 on Friday night at Crypto.com Arena.

Collier scored 13 of her game-high 25 points early in the second half. Collier scored the first five points of the second half to get within four and start the comeback.

The Lynx (3-7) climbed out of last place in the WNBA standings with their second consecutive come-from-behind victory over Los Angeles, after using a 17-0 run in the fourth quarter to win Sunday at Target Center. On Friday, they took the lead for good with 25.1 seconds left in the third quarter on a three-pointer by Rachel Banham.

Banham only made two field goals in the game, but both gave the Lynx the lead in the second half. She finished with seven points and six assists.

The Lynx never trailed in the fourth quarter. Kayla McBride sealed the victory with a pair of free throws with 18 seconds left. McBride finished with 16 points. Nikolina Milic had 10 points off the bench for the Lynx.

"We're a really new team," Collier said. "We have a lot of new pieces and young players. Just learning what it takes for us as a team to finish out games has been [a] struggle a little bit, but I think we are finally trying to find our way and figuring out what works best for us."

The Sparks outscored the Lynx 18-10 over the last 7:25 of the second quarter to take a nine-point lead into halftime. In that span, the Lynx turned the ball over five times.

The two teams went back-and-forth with neither team leading by more than three points. There were 14 lead changes and five ties prior to the Sparks' late second quarter run.

Jordin Canada led the Sparks with 22 points and five assists. Sparks leading scorer Nneka Ogwumike had eight points and seven assists. Dearica Hamby had 14 points and nine rebounds.

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