PHOENIX — Having an off night offensively, Maya Moore still found a way to help her team win.
Moore was 3 of 12 from the floor when she hit a 3-pointer, stole an inbounds pass and made a layup in the final minute to lift the Minnesota Lynx to their sixth straight victory, an 82-77 win over the Phoenix Mercury on Sunday.
"I'm always trying to find a way to stay involved and help my team win," Moore said. "I never give up, I don't like to give up on my team and I could have easily just let it get to my head and gotten frustrated. But our team has done such a good job of picking each other up."
Moore finished with 14 points on 5-for-14 shooting, Rebecca Brunson added 18 points and 13 rebounds, and Seimone Augustus scored 15 points for the Lynx, who have won eight of their last nine. Minnesota hit four of six free throws in the final 19 seconds to secure the victory, the Lynx' ninth straight against Phoenix, including all four this season.
"Tough, gritty, not hanging our heads when we got down double figures," Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeves said. "We had been down previously and we weren't able to recover from it in the past games, so I think we learned from those experiences."
Diana Taurasi had 26 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Mercury, who led much of the game, and had a 64-59 advantage going into the final period and a 74-73 lead with 1:35 left.
"We just said that with five minutes to go we wanted to be in the game," Augustus said. "Be able to put some stretches together where we consistently defended and then offensively we knew where we were going to be able to get shots where we wanted to."
DeWanna Bonner added 23 points and 10 rebounds for Phoenix. The Mercury played their fourth straight game without No. 1 draft pick Brittney Griner, who injured her left knee June 6 against Minnesota.