Collier scores 26 to help Lynx overcome Sun to take 2-1 series lead in WNBA semifinal
Aces guard Tiffany Hayes wins WNBA's 6th Person of the Year award
Napheesa Collier scored 26 points and the Minnesota Lynx beat the Connecticut Sun 90-81 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five semifinal series Friday night.
Game 4 is Sunday in Connecticut with the Lynx looking to advance to the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2017. That season ended in the fourth of Minnesota's championships during a seven-year stretch. Game 5 would be in Minnesota on Tuesday night if necessary.
Collier, who averaged just 14 points in the first two games of the series, had 16 in the first half in Game 3. The runner-up for league MVP was aggressive from the start. Minnesota led by seven after one quarter and 48-36 at the half thanks to Collier, who made seven of her 10 shots in the opening 20 minutes.
The Sun tried to rally, cutting the deficit to seven on a three-point play by Marina Mabrey midway through the third quarter. But that's as close as they got.
WATCH | Collier continues rolling as Lynx defeat Sun to take series lead:
DeWanna Bonner moved into second place on the WNBA career postseason scoring list in the third quarter. She passed Candace Parker, who had 1,149 during her illustrious career. Bonner now has 1,159, moving ahead of Parker by hitting a free throw with 1:36 left in the quarter. Diana Taurasi is the leader with 1,455.
The first two games featured a chippiness between the teams, who pride themselves on playing physical defence. They were the two best defensive teams in the regular season — the Sun allowed an average of 73.6 points per game, the Lynx 75.6.
There had been hard fouls on both sides in the two games in Minnesota. There wasn't much of that at all in Game 3.
There's also been a lot of trash talk on the court especially between Courtney Williams and Mabrey. The pair were teammates in Chicago last year and say that it's just on-court fun and there's no bad blood between them.
Aces' Hayes wins 6th Person of the Year award
Las Vegas Aces guard Tiffany Hayes earned the WNBA Sixth Person of the Year award Friday, the league announced.
Hayes received 38 of 67 votes from a national media panel. New York's Leonie Fiebich finished second with 21 votes. Shatori Walker-Kimbrough of Washington and Marina Mabrey of Connecticut were the next two in the voting.
It's the fifth time in the past six seasons a Las Vegas player has won the award. She joins Dearica Hamby (2019, 2020), Kelsey Plum (2021) and Alysha Clark (2023).
In her 12th WNBA season and first with the Aces, Hayes played in 33 of Las Vegas' 40 regular-season games, coming off the bench a career-high 28 times and starting five games. To be eligible for the award, a player must come off the bench in more games than they start.
Among all players who qualified for the award, Hayes ranked first in points (313) and points per game.
Hayes, 35, was a 2017 all-star and has career averages of 13.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 350 games (279 starts) with the Atlanta Dream (2012-19, 2021-22), Connecticut Sun (2023) and Aces.
Hayes received the award on the court before the the Aces played the Liberty in Game 3 of the WNBA semifinals.
With files from Field Level Media
