Lynx lose at Indiana in finale, will face Connecticut in playoffs

One good quarter isn’t enough.

The Lynx ended their regular season with a 87-72 loss at Indiana on Sunday, sending them into the playoffs on a two-game losing streak.

A marvelous third quarter at both ends allowed the Lynx (19-21) to rally from 13 down to tie the score entering the fourth. Two three-pointers by Kayla McBride early in the fourth gave Minnesota one-point leads.

But then things fell apart.

Minnesota went 0-for-9 with six turnovers as the Fever (13-27) finished the game on an 18-2 run. Indiana finished 10th in the WNBA but went 3-1 this season against the Lynx.

It was a costly loss.

Atlanta lost to Dallas on Sunday. That meant a Lynx victory would have given them a fifth seed and a first-round playoff series with Dallas.

Instead, the Lynx will open the best-of-three, first-round series at third-place Connecticut.

McBride finished with 24 points and Napheesa Collier had 23. It marked the first time in three seasons playing together that both have scored 20 points in a game in a Lynx loss. Diamond Miller scored 11.

Indiana had four starters in double figures, led by Kelsey Mitchell (24), Aliyah Boston (19 points, 12 rebounds and La’Lyssa Smith (16 points, 11 rebounds).

The Fever turned 11 offensive rebounds into 20 points and out-scored the Lynx 48-28 in the paint.

In a game that still had meaning, the Lynx came out flat, again.

Getting beat inside (20 points in the paint) and outside (Indiana was 3-for-4 on three-pointers), the Lynx allowed Indiana to made 13 of 18 shots (72.2 percent) while building a 32-22 lead after a quarter.

Mitchell had 11 points and Smith nine for the Fever, who led by as many as 12 despite the fact the Lynx shot better than 50 percent and got 11 points from McBride, seven from Collier.

With Miller scoring nine points, the Lynx rallied to within five points three times in the second quarter. The first came on Miller’s two free throws with 4:04 left in the first half. The second came on Miller’s three-pointer with 3:07 left, and finally with 2:389 left on Tiffany Mitchell’s two free throws with 2:39 left.

But Indiana promptly finished the half 11-4. That included threes by Mitchell and Wheeler. The Fever made nine of 17 shots and three of seven three-pointers in the quarter.

In the third quarter the Lynx defense arrived.

Indiana, so hot in the first half, made just three of 20 third-quarter shots, just one of seven threes, missing all three free throws.

Still, early in the quarter, the Fever’s lead was pushed to 13 on Vivians’ three-pointer with 9:01 left.

The rest of the quarter belonged to Minnesota, which finished it with a 17-4 run.

Collier led the way, scoring eight points in that run, including a baseline jumper with 17.3 seconds left that tied the game at 63. The Lynx outscored Indiana 19-7 in the third.

The Star Tribune did not send the writer of this article to the game. This was written using a broadcast, interviews and other material,