Lynx beat Liberty 94-89 to win Commissioner’s Cup as Bridget Carleton scores 23 points

The Lynx were about 1½ hours away from playing the New York Liberty in the Commissioner’s Cup final Tuesday at UBS Arena in Elmont, N.Y.

Late in her pre-game interview before the Lynx played the New York Liberty in the Commissioner’s Cup final, Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve talked about how the team had drawn motivation from many dour pre-season predictions about her team.

“We don’t want you guys to talk about us,” Reeve said. But then: “We’re making you talk about us.”

That figures to continue.

The reason: the Lynx’s 94-89 victory — the game’s final score doesn’t figure in the standings — in a game played for money, for charity, for pride.

“It means a lot,” said Napheesa Collier, the game’s MVP, who scored 21 points with six rebounds, three assists and three steals. “It was a test to see where we were at this point in the season. This is the best group, the way we’re jelling, the chemistry.”

The winning.

The Lynx won their seventh straight game and their second against New York in front of a crowd of 7,015. Five players scored in double figures, led by Bridget Carleton (23 points), who played her best WNBA game. Ditto for Cecilia Zandalasini, who came off the bench for a career-high 15, at one point scoring seven straight Lynx points.

“This shows all the hard work we put in,” Collier said. “And there is more to come.”

By winning the Commissioner’s Cup title each Lynx player pocketed about $30,000.

Carlton shot 8-for-10, made six of eight threes and scored 14 in the second half. Kayla McBride scored 12 on her birthday. Courtney Williams, her go-to midrange slowing Liberty runs all night, scored 11 with eight assists, three steals, one turnover.

But this was a full-team victory.

Down three after a high-octane first half, the Lynx out-scored the Liberty 47-39 in the second in very familiar fashion: by turning up the defense and dialing up the threes. After shooting 54.1% in the first half and hitting eight of 15 threes, the Liberty went 11-for-32 in the second half, made just four of 14 threes and scored 39 points — just 10 in the third quarter.

The Lynx? They shot 15-for-36 in the second half and made eight of 16 threes.

“They executed better than us, that’s really it,” Liberty star Breanna Stewart said. She scored 24 points and had 11 rebounds. But she also had five of the 20 Liberty turnovers the Lynx turned into 27 points. “Both ends of the floor.”

Sabrina Ionescu had 23 points and 10 boards but scored just five after halftime. She and Kayla Thornton (17 points) combined for 32 points in the first half, eight in the second. Lynx center Alanna Smith scored a modest six points, but helped hold Liberty center Jonquel Jones to three points on 0-for-3 shooting, grabbed six rebounds and had three blocks.

“What I’m proud of is we answered every run, on the road,” Reeve said. “That tells you everything about our basketball team.”

The game was tied at 60 in the final minute of the third quarter. But, over the next 108 seconds, the Lynx scored 10 straight, with Carleton and Zandalasini both hitting threes, to take a 70-60 lead with 9:01 left in the game.

But Stewart hit two threes and had a three-point play as the Liberty came back within one.

Then Carleton put it away. She had eight points in an 18-8 run over five-plus minutes to give the Lynx an 11-point lead on her final three-pointer of the night with 1:51 left, giving her 23 points, four rebounds, five assists, three steals.

“There was a lot on the line,” Carleton said. “I have so much trust in my teammates and they have so much in me. They found me in the right places, and I got hot.”

Enjoying the moment, Reeve commented on how much some in the national media loves the league’s star-studded league. “We just beat a super team,” she said. “You know how hard that is to do?”

No, but people are bound to discuss it.

“You gotta talk about us now,” Reeve said.

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