MINNEAPOLIS — Just when it appeared the Seattle Storm had started to put all together, it all fell apart.
The Storm really never competed as the Minnesota Lynx cruised to a 92-67 victory on Friday night.
Seimone Augustus and Candice Wiggins scored 16 points each scored 16 points for the Lynx.
Maya Moore added 12 points and Taj McWilliams-Franklin had 10 to help the Lynx (12-4) win their fifth straight and seventh in eight games. Minnesota extended its lead in the West to one game over idle San Antonio.
“I think it’s just, for us, one of those nights,” point guard Sue Bird said. “We did not play well at all. I think it was definitely a combination of what they were doing and just us playing poorly. You have to give it to them. They did a great job.”
Swin Cash scored 18 points to lead Seattle (9-8), but Bird, the Storm’s leading scorer was held to just four points on 1-for-6 shooting.
Minnesota has a winning record after the All-Star break for the first time in franchise history.
Minnesota started on a 7-0 run, but Seattle came back. Cash, who led the West with 21 points in last weekend’s All-Star game, hit two 3-pointers to get the Storm started and she scored 10 of the team’s 16 points in the first quarter.
But with Augustus and Moore leading the way, Minnesota took control.
The Lynx went on a 33-12 run spanning the end of the first and start of the second to lead 46-26. Augustus scored eight points and Moore added seven during the spurt.
“I was just really disappointed in our defense,” Storm head coach Brian Agler said. “I thought we were a much better defensive team than that, but I think Minnesota’s a heck of a team. They’re playing really well right now.”
Minnesota eventually led by 32, marking the fifth time in eight games, and ninth overall, the Lynx have led by at least 20. They’ve led by 30 three times this season.
Cash said the Storm was responsible as a unit for the defeat.
“I think it was a lot of us, Cash said. “I mean, give them credit. I think offensively they did whatever they wanted to do, but I think a lot of today’s game fell on us. Fortunately, in the WNBA we have a game tomorrow so we can’t really sit back and think about it too much or analyze it.
The Storm came in with back-to-back wins against San Antonio and Phoenix — the two teams ahead of them in the West — as they try to re-establish themselves as a factor even without three-time league MVP Lauren Jackson, who has played only five games this season.
“She’s shooting right now, and she’s doping some things like that, but she’s not practiced with us,” Agler said.
But Seattle couldn’t get on-track against Minnesota’s swarming defense.
The Storm shot just 42 percent from the field and committed 18 turnovers, leading to 25 Lynx points.
Minnesota has scored 88 points off of 60 turnovers in the past three games.
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