Silver Stars Shut Down
June 8, 2008
The Minnesota Lynx overcame a shaky start and an early fourth-quarter lapse to come on strong and bury San Antonio, 90-78, at Target Center.
The average age of the Lynx players is 24.4 years. That figure would even be lower if the ages of eight-year WNBA veteran Kristen Rasmussen and six-year vet Anna DeForge were thrown out. Raw youth has its place, but often it is not on a professional basketball court. “It’s no secret that we are a young team,” said head coach Don Zierden after the game. “We have a lot of things to work on.”
A veteran team, San Antonio was able to capitalize on youthful Lynx mistakes. In last year’s playoffs, the Silver Stars defeated Sacramento in the first round before falling to Phoenix in the Western Conference finals. The Lynx caught a break when observers noticed that high-scoring San Antonio forward Sophia Young was standing around and not shooting during warm-ups. Coach Dan Hughes elected not to use her in the game.
“Young not playing was a huge help to us,” said Zierden. A bigger help was provided by unheralded Lynx guard Noelle Quinn who scored a three-point basket to give Minnesota a 70-60 lead with 6:34 remaining in the game. Three minutes later, she canned another three-pointer to ice the game.
San Antonio had taken a narrow 19-18 lead into the second quarter thanks to seven points from Becky Hammon, Rapid City, S.D. native and member of the Russian Olympic team. Meanwhile, the Lynx made just 7-of-18 shots (38.9 percent) in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Candice Wiggins became the first player to hit double-digits in scoring by putting up eight points in the period's first five minutes. Constantly attacking the basket, Wiggins got to the foul line six times in the period. Minnesota forced 10 Silver Star turnovers. Seimone Augustus, Wiggins, Rasmussen and Nicky Anosike (two) all collected steals in the second period, helping the Lynx turn a 32-30 deficit into a 41-35 lead at the half.
Minnesota played strong defense and used two early three-pointers from Quinn and DeForge to jump out to a 10-point lead in the third quarter. However, San Antonio managed to cut the gap to six at quarter's close.
The Silver Stars made a run early in the fourth, with Hammon's three at the 9:13 mark closing the gap to 59-58. Charde Houston then scored a running layup, and on the following possession, Augustus found a cutting DeForge for a layup basket. The Lynx shot 48 percent for the game, and forced 18 Silver Star turnovers, in addition to holding a slight 32-30 edge on the glass and a 23-20 edge in the assist column.
Ann (Belgian Bomber) Wauters of San Antonio led all scorers with 24 points. Hammon finished with 14, and former Lynx Erin Buescher had 10. Minnesota was led by Augustus with 18 points, followed by Wiggins with 17.