Until Sunday, the Lynx had not given up more than 18 points to any San Antonio player in five games. The Lynx won all five, four in the regular season and one in the playoffs.
But San Antonio won 84-75 on Sunday at the AT&T Center as forwards Jia Perkins scored 24 points and Sophia Young 23.
"Jia just found her spots," Lynx guard Seimone Augustus said. "We weren't dictating with our defense where we wanted her to go. When she's got freedom to move around, Jia is a great player of finding that spot in her confidence zone and knocking down her shots. That's what we lacked in our defense."
Perkins went 9 for 18 from the field, including 4 for 6 on three-pointers. She also had six rebounds, five assists and four steals.
Perkins said she got into a good shooting rhythm which helped her. "I knew in the game I was going to get open looks," she said. "Last game I had open looks, but I wasn't able to knock them down."
If the Silver Stars can rebound well, Perkins said, they can beat the Lynx on Tuesday and win the series. And, defensively, San Antonio needs a repeat performance of Sunday's effort. "Try to get [the Lynx] out of their rhythm," Perkins said.
Young was nearly as effective. She was 7 for 11 from the field and 9 for 13 at the foul line. She had four rebounds and one steal.
"Sophia is a great pick and roll player," Augustus said, "and she continued to roll and pop off those screens and create difficult situations for our post players to have to close out on her. She capitalized every single time."
