Lynx beat Storm 83-64 behind another hot shooting performance from Kayla McBride

Kayla McBride is on a heater. When it comes from long range, one of the best — if not the best — in WNBA history.

Sunday at Target Center, McBride hit seven of 10 three-pointers. She scored 32 points, 21 as the Lynx shook off an unsteady second quarter by burying the Seattle Storm in the second half.

The final: Lynx 83, Storm 64.

McBride, the WNBA leader in threes made (43) and three-point percentage (51.2%), has hit 15 threes over two games. Future Hall of Famer Diana Taurasi is the only other player to do that, in September 2020 against Las Vegas and Indiana. But she was 15-for-28 in those two games.

McBride was 15-for-23.

Informed of this afterward — particularly the fact Taurasi needed five more attempts to do it — McBride smiled.

“Nice,” she said. “But I think she’d say the same thing.”

Yes, nice. McBride’s 32 points were her most in a Lynx uniform and the most by a Minnesota player this season.

“I’ve said it before,” coach Cheryl Reeve said. “In terms of the confidence, the release, her teammates finding her? I think she’s getting easier threes than maybe last season.”

Bridget Carlton put it more succinctly: “Every time she shoots, I think it’s going to go in.”

There was so much to like about the victory, a nice bounce-back after Friday’s last-second loss at Phoenix. It ended a six-game winning streak for Seattle, which is now 0-3 vs. the Lynx this season.

After a shaky second quarter that saw the Lynx (8-3) hit five of 13 shots, turn the ball over three times and allow the Storm (7-4) to get six offensive rebounds, the Lynx came for the second half a different team.

The Lynx outscored Seattle 47-23 after halftime, shooting 50% to the Storm’s 30.6%. Seattle is the sixth Lynx opponent in 11 games to shoot south of 40% for a game (34.7%).

Point guard Olivia Époupa scored only two points, but she had eight rebounds and seven assists in 14-plus minutes. She fed Carleton (13 points) for a basket that beat the third-quarter buzzer, then stole Seattle’s inbounds pass to start the fourth, dishing to Napheesa Collier for two. Suddenly, a five-point lead was up to nine.

Collier had 19 points and 14 rebounds. Before the game Reeve said she had given her All-Star the green light to complain to officials. Collier must have misunderstood. Normally not a talker, she got into it with Storm star Nneka Ogwumike twice.

The Lynx got assists on an amazing 25 of 27 field goals made. After 11 games, the Lynx are first in the league in assists per game (24.2), threes made per game (10.6) and three-point shooting percentage (40.5).

BOXSCORE: Lynx 83, Seattle 64

But this night belonged to McBride. To her, this all can be traced back to the end of last year, when she hit 20 threes and averaged nearly 20 points over the final four regular-season and three playoff games. Then came an outstanding season overseas.

“A lot more work put in, a lot more games, the shots I’m getting,” she said. “I have a lot of confidence in what I’m doing, especially compared to last year. I’ve kind of found my flow at this point in my career. I’m playing with a lot of joy and a lot of peace. I’m having a lot of fun shooting the ball. I know what this team needs me to be.”

McBride has averaged 23.8 points and shot 55.3% on threes over her past four games as the Lynx remain in the running for the Commissioner’s Cup finals.

“It’s the people I get to go to work with every day,” she said. “This team is special. Since Day 1 the energy has been just kind of different. The chemistry is so organic.”.