DiJonai Carrington makes immediate impact in debut with Lynx, who edge Storm 91-87

If there were any doubt about what DiJonai Carrington could bring to an already loaded Lynx roster, she erased it Tuesday night.

Acquired from the Dallas Wings this past weekend, the 5-11 guard wasted no time announcing her presence. In her Lynx debut, Carrington scored 13 points on 5-for-7 shooting to go along with four rebounds, two steals and two assists — all in less than 18 minutes — as the Lynx edged the Storm 91-87 at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.

Want to understand Carrington’s impact in a sequence? Just look at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

Carrington swatted Storm guard Tiffany Mitchell’s layup attempt at one end — Carrington thinks she might have jammed her pinky finger from hitting the backboard — then pulled herself off the floor, ran down the court and drilled a three-pointer to tie the score at 68.

“They thought they had a transition layup and,” Carrington said in a postgame videoconference, pausing to raise her eyebrows for dramatic effect, “we had different plans.”

The previous 48 hours were a blur for Carrington.

After being traded to the Lynx on Sunday, Carrington said she arrived in Seattle that same day. She was soon able to get a practice and shootaround in before making her Lynx debut Tuesday.

Carrington credited her quick adjustment to familiarity with several core Lynx players (she played with Courtney Williams and Natisha Hiedeman in Connecticut) and a defense-first system that plays to her instincts.

Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said she wanted Carrington to “play without thinking” and “just try to do the simple things” Tuesday.

“I thought she did that,” Reeve said. “And her block — running in transition — that’s her. I think that’s the epitome of [Carrington]. She’s never going to quit. That’s a competitor times 10.”

Williams led the Lynx with 20 points, including a pair of clutch baskets in the final minute.

After Storm veteran Nneka Ogwumike cut Minnesota’s lead to 80-76 with 1:10 remaining, Williams responded with a layup. When Seattle’s Erica Wheeler again trimmed the lead to four, Williams buried a three-pointer with 33 seconds left to put the Lynx back up by seven.

BOXSCORE: Lynx 91, Seattle 87

WNBA standings

Jessica Shepard, who started in place of Collier, finished with a double-double — her second straight and fifth of the season. Bridget Carleton was 4-for-6 from three-point range, with all of her triples coming at crucial stretches in the second half. Alanna Smith — playing through plenty of frustration after drawing five fouls — added six points and five steals.

Ogwumike scored a game-high 23 points for Seattle, and Wheeler had 19.

The Lynx return home Friday to play the Washington Mystics at Target Center. That game is set to tip off at 6:30 p.m.

That was certainly the case Tuesday.

“We turnt up,” Williams said about Carrington’s early fourth-quarter sequence. “When she did that, I knew we was about to win.”

She repeated the line more slowly this time for emphasis:

“When she did that, I knew we was about to win. Believe it.”