Odyssey Sims, Sylvia Fowles pace Lynx in victory at Connecticut

UNCASVILLE, CONN. – Odyssey Sims scored 21 points and Sylvia Fowles had 18 points and 11 rebounds as the Lynx beat the Connecticut Sun 74-71 on Saturday at Mohegan Sun Arena. The Sun had been the WNBA's last unbeaten team at home with a 6-0 record.

Danielle Robinson, who had 13 points, made two free throws with 54.2 seconds left to put the Lynx (8-6) ahead 72-69. Then she made two more shots at the line with 8.2 seconds left for a five-point lead.

Rachel Banham's layup with 2.5 seconds left got the Sun within 74-71, and Napheesa Collier committed a turnover but time expired.

Collier scored 10 points in her first return to Connecticut, where she played at UConn, but got into foul trouble.

Sims, Robinson and Lexie Brown had 16 of the Lynx's 20 fourth-quarter points. Sims also had eight assists in the game.

Jasmine Thomas led the Sun (9-5), which has lost four in a row, with 16 points. Connecticut had won a franchise-record 14 straight home games going back to last season.

The Sun beat the Lynx 85-81 at Target Center on June 14.

"These guys, as Curt [Miller, the Sun coach] let us know, beat us five straight times and let us know that at the press conference at our place, so we ended a couple streaks," Reeve said.

"What really hurt was holding [the Lynx] to 10 points in the third quarter," Miller said, " and we couldn't break away because we had so many turnovers."

The Lynx trailed 58-54 entering the fourth quarter. But Brown's three-pointer with 2:41 left put Minnesota ahead to stay at 62-60. Sims made back-to-back jumpers for a 70-65 lead with 2:38 to go.

"We know being on the road is always hard no matter what team you play," Sims said. "We just had a lot of poise, but down the stretch we executed, rebounded when it mattered [six offensive rebounds in the fourth] and made free throws."