Minnesota
Bonner scores 24 to lift Connecticut Sun past Minnesota Lynx 78-73
DeWanna Bonner scored 24 points, Alyssa Thomas had 14 assists, 13 points and 10 rebounds, while DiJonai Carrington made big plays down the stretch to help the Connecticut Sun hold off the Minnesota Lynx 78-73 on Thursday night.
Lynx star Napheesa Collier left late in the third quarter because of a foot injury. Selected to the U.S. Olympic team, Collier scored nine points, ending her double-figure scoring streak at 29 games.
Bonner made 10 of 16 shots with two 3-pointers and added nine rebounds for the Sun (16-4), who have posted back-to-back wins after losing three of their previous four.
Thomas matched her season high for assists and Carrington finished with 17 points including 3 of 4 from beyond the arc.
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Alanna Smith scored 14 before fouling out to lead the Lynx (14-6). Kayla McBride had 13 points and eight rebounds.
Bridget Carleton connected on a 3-pointer and Diamond Miller followed with a three-point play as the Lynx scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to knot the score at 64. Bonner answered with a 3-pointer and a three-point play for a 70-64 lead and the Sun never trailed again.
Carrington blocked McBride’s layup attempt with 28 seconds left that would have pulled the Lynx within two and added two free throws with 16 seconds remaining to push the lead to six. McBride sank a 3-pointer, but Carrington answered with a layup to wrap up the victory.
Bonner scored 11 on 5-for-7 shooting to lead Connecticut to a 20-17 lead after the first quarter.
Veronica Burton sank a 3-pointer to give the Sun a 32-24 lead with 4:42 left in the first half. McBride hit two 3-pointers and Carleton and Smith both made one in a 16-4 run to end the period and the Lynx took a 40-36 lead into halftime.
Smith had a 3-pointer and a layup in an 8-2 spurt to begin the third quarter to give Minnesota its largest lead at 48-38. Carrington made back-to-back 3-pointers to cap a 10-0 run and Connecticut evened the score at 48. Thomas followed her three-point play with six straight free throws and a layup, scoring 11 of the Sun’s final 14 points for a 64-58 advantage heading to the final quarter.
Connecticut has won five in a row against Minnesota in Minneapolis and improves to 2-0 against the Lynx this season.
Up next
Minnesota will host the Washington Mystics on Saturday. Connecticut returns home to play the Atlanta Dream on Sunday.
Minnesota
If Arizona hosts Los Angeles Rams vs Minnesota Vikings due to fires, it wouldn’t be a first
NFL Wild Card playoff picks: Consider Eagles, Commanders and Vikings
Lorenzo Reyes is back with his three best bets ahead of Sunday and Monday’s games during Wild Card Weekend.
There could still be one more football game played in Arizona this season. On Wednesday, the NFL announced that it has a contingency plan to potentially move Monday night’s wild-card game between the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams to State Farm Stadium due to ongoing wildfires raging across Southern California.
For now, the league is preparing for the game to take place at SoFi Stadium, the Rams’ home in Inglewood. But if a change of location is deemed necessary, the Cardinals’ stadium in Glendale would play host, giving Arizona its first playoff game — excluding Super Bowls — since the 2015 divisional round.
It would, however, not be the first time that NFL teams have had to move to Arizona. Here are the other times that similar moves have occurred:
2020: San Francisco 49ers
Due to the spread of COVID-19 in the fall of 2020, Santa Clara County briefly banned all contact sports. That forced the San Francisco 49ers to play three home games at State Farm Stadium. The team used fields near the stadium as its practice facility and stayed at the Renaissance Phoenix Glendale Hotel and Spa across the street.
2007: San Diego Chargers
It would not be unprecedented if the Rams had to make Arizona home due to fires. The then-San Diego Chargers practiced at the Cardinals’ Tempe facility for three days in 2007 due to the Witch Creek Fire, which forced 40 members of the organization to evacuate their homes. The team returned to San Diego for their game that Sunday, defeating the Houston Texans.
2003: San Diego Chargers
Four years earlier, the Chargers had a Monday Night Football game against the Dolphins moved to Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe. Again, the move was due to fires in Southern California, which caused poor air quality. The Chargers’ home field, Qualcomm Stadium, was also used as an evacuation center during the fires. Both teams flew to Arizona on game day for a game Miami won, 26-10. The NFL distributed 73,104 free tickets to the game.
Minnesota
Boston Fleet fall to Minnesota Frost in overtime
Taylor Heise scored the overtime winner to lift the Minnesota Frost to a 2-1 victory over the Boston Fleet on Wednesday night
The win is the Frost’s third in as many games this season against the Fleet, and the second in seven days by an overtime finish. Hannah Bilka scored early on for the Fleet, making this the first time Boston has opened the scoring against Minnesota this season.
Later in the first period, Denisa Křížová scored her first goal of the campaign, tying the game at one and ending the game’s regulation scoring. Heise’s winner came at 3:20 of the extra frame on Minnesota’s first shot of overtime on Emma Söderberg, who stopped 24 shots throughout regulation. Maddie Rooney picked up her fourth win of the season with a 26-save performance.
Minnesota
Bird flu cases surging in southern Minnesota, DNR says
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