Stricklen’s 4-point play at buzzer lifts Sun past Liberty
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) Shekinna Stricklen had a four-point play at the buzzer to give the Connecticut Sun an 88-86 victory over the New York Liberty on Thursday night.
Stricklen caught the ball on the wing off a pass from Jasmine Thomas, hit the shot and was fouled as time expired. After a brief review by the officials, the basket was ruled good. Stricklen shot the free throw with no time on the clock.
The Sun (6-1) trailed by 13 at the half and took their first lead since early in the game on Thomas' layup midway through the fourth quarter. Thomas had left the game a few minutes earlier when she went down hard after committing a foul and grabbed her knee. She was on the sideline for a few minutes being looked at by the Sun's training staff before returning.
The teams traded the lead over the final few minutes before Marissa Coleman's driving layup with 29.7 seconds left gave New York the lead an 85-84 advantage. After a few misses by Connecticut, Bria Hartley was fouled and she made one of two free throws with 5.8 seconds left setting up the exciting finish.
Thomas led the Sun with 19 points.
Tina Charles had 24 points and nine rebounds for the Liberty (2-4).
LYNX 88, MYSTICS 80
WASHINGTON (AP) - Sylvia Fowles had 21 points and 12 rebounds, Maya Moore added 19 points and defending champion Minnesota beat Washington to snap a four-game losing streak.
Minnesota closed on an 11-3 run. Rebekkah Brunson sank a wide open 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock for an 82-77 lead, and Moore made six straight free throws to seal it.
Seimone Augustus added 16 points for Minnesota (3-5). She passed Katie Douglas and DeLisha Milton-Jones for 11th on the WNBA scoring list with 5,573 points.
Natasha Cloud led Washington (5-4) with 17 points, and Kristi Toliver had 15. Elena Delle Donne returned after missing four games with an illness. She scored eight points in 26 minutes.
STORM 88, SPARKS 63
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Alysha Clark had 17 points and a career-high five steals, Breanna Stewart added 16 points and the Seattle Storm beat the Sparks.
Seattle jumped out to a 24-9 lead in the first quarter and led 42-33 at the break behind 12 points apiece from Stewart and Natasha Howard. The Storm opened the second half on a 17-6 spurt to extend it to a 20-point advantage.
Howard had 16 points and nine rebounds for Seattle (6-2), which won in Los Angeles for the first time since 2015.
Nneka Ogwumike scored 19 points for Los Angeles (4-2). Candace Parker was held to six points on 3-of-7 shooting in her third game of the season.
