Lynx improve to 7-0 with strong second half in victory over expansion Valkyries

Yes, Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said to reporters after the game, it was one of those halftimes.

The Lynx were down a point to expansion Golden State in San Francisco. The Valkyries had just scored 29 points in the second quarter, 52 in the half, both the most allowed by the Lynx this season.

This was … not good. And so:

“It was not a pretty halftime,” Reeve said.

It was a pretty second half, though. The Lynx defense was a green light in the first half, flashing red in the second in an 86-75 victory that kept the Lynx perfect through seven games this season.

Record-wise, anyway. Talk to Reeve, or to either Napheesa Collier or Courtney Williams, and they say different. The Lynx have won every game they have played, but they haven’t yet played a complete game.

First, Reeve: “We have to show up a certain way. Every time we play. We got out-efforted the entire first half. And that was unacceptable. So, obviously, that was shared. It’s a good group. They responded, which I appreciate.”

It was very night-and-day. The Valkyries (2-4) shot 45.7% and made six of 17 three-point attempts while scoring 52 first-half points. They shot 26.7% and went 3-for-17 on threes while scoring 23 points in the entire second half.

Now, the players:

“It was a matter of us locking in,” Williams said. Williams scored 20 points — making her one of four Lynx starters in double figures — to go with five rebounds, five assists and two steals.

Collier, back after missing Friday’s game at Phoenix because of a sore knee, had a 24-point, 11-rebound double-double, with four assists and two steals. Kayla McBride scored 16 points and Bridget Carleton had 12.

“Sometimes it seems we take things for granted,” Williams said. “We have to stop doing that. We can’t be a second-half team.”

That was Collier’s point, too. This team, within a victory of a WNBA title last season, has big goals this year.

“The fact we know what to do and we’re not going out and doing it, it’s extremely frustrating,” Collier said. “The coaches can’t go out and do it for us. We have to take responsibility for that. That third quarter is us showing we know what to do. We just need to do it for four quarters.”

The second half was like a completely different game. The score was still tied at 56-56 when Williams hit a three-pointer with 6:59 left in the third quarter. That was the start of a 27-5 run over the next 11-plus minutes that put the Lynx up 22 with 5:43 left in the game.

Williams (two), Carleton, Collier and Natisha Hiedeman all hit threes in that span, five of the season-high 11 threes made by the Lynx. As has become customary, Hiedeman was a huge part of the surge, with eight points in that run.

BOXSCORE: Lynx 86, Golden State 75

WNBA standings

Veronica Burton (21), Kate Martin (14) and Kayla Thornton (11) combined for 29 first-half points for Golden State, but only 17 in the second half.

The Lynx were playing off their defense, a formula that has to be extended, now, over four quarters.

“We’re not where we want to be,” Collier said. “But we’ve shown glimpses of that. We’re the only ones standing in our way. That’s the good news. Hopefully this will be the last time we’re talking about this.”

That, as Collier said, is up to the players.

“We have bigger goals than individual games,” Collier said. “But it takes those individual games to get there. And we have to lock in.”