MINNEAPOLIS — Natisha Hiedeman scored 21 points, Napheesa Collier had 19 and the Minnesota Lynx beat the Golden State Valkyries 72-53 on Thursday night to set a franchise record with 34 wins.<\/p>\n
Minnesota (34-10) had already cliched home-court advantage in the playoffs, locking up the No. 1 seed with a win over Connecticut last week. The Lynx tied the 2023 Las Vegas Aces for the most regular-season wins in WNBA history.<\/p>\n
Golden State (23-21) dropped to the No. 8 seed in the playoffs and will play Minnesota again on Sunday to begin a best-of-three series. <\/p>\n
Collier finished the regular season shooting 53% from the field, 40.3% from 3-point range and 91% from the free-throw line to join Elena Delle Donne (in 2019) as the only players in WNBA history to have a 50\/40\/90 season.<\/p>\n
Jessica Shepard had 11 points and 14 rebounds for Minnesota. DiJonai Carrington (shoulder) missed her fourth straight game.<\/p>\n
Iliana Rupert, Veronica Burton, Kaila Charles and Cecilia Zandalasini each scored eight points to lead Golden State. <\/p>\n
Minnesota led 17-8 after the first quarter as Golden State was just 4 of 18 (22.2%) from the field, including 0 for 7 behind the arc. The Lynx held a 34-22 advantage at halftime behind 12 points from Collier.<\/p>\n
The Valkyries missed their first 17 3-pointers before Rupert made one on back-to-back possession to cut Minnesota\u2019s lead to 45-41 with 1:28 left in the third.<\/p>\n
Minnesota opened the fourth on a 12-0 run to extend its lead to 59-41 after Hiedeman’s fast-break layup. Hiedeman scored nine points in the opening three minutes of the fourth.<\/p>\n
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