Lynx earn bounce-back win over Sky as Napheesa Collier scores 29 points

CHICAGO — Courtney Williams was ready to respond.

Two days after a sluggish performance against the Chicago Sky — which Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve called out for a lack of effort — Minnesota returned with a renewed sense of urgency in a 91-78 win at Wintrust Arena on Monday night.

For Williams, it was personal.

“After we lost the last game, all my comments — Instagram, Facebook, Twitter — was flooded with, ‘You ain’t beat Chicago?’” she said with a laugh.

Led by Napheesa Collier’s 29 points and a big-time, bounce-back performance from Williams, the Lynx (19-4) outscored Chicago 47–32 in the second half. Williams finished with 18 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and four steals in 36 high-energy minutes.

“When you put yourself out there, as Courtney does sometimes... she’s one that backs things up,” Reeve said. “She found herself in that situation. Whatever motivated her, we needed it.”

The online jab flooding Williams’ comment section was a reference to StudBudz, Williams’ livestream with teammate Natisha Hiedeman. On one episode, Williams jokingly asked DiJonai Carrington which teams the Dallas Wings had beaten earlier this season: “Y’all ain’t beat Chicago?”

So when the Sky upset the Lynx on Saturday, Chicago’s social media team fired back, reposting the score with Williams’ quote as the caption.

Hiedeman, for her part, wasn’t surprised.

“That’s what comes with it when you poppin’,” she said before the game Monday. “They’ve been waiting on that ... but, yeah, I hope our [social media] admin got something cooked up for after this one though.”

BOXSCORE: Lynx 91, Chicago 78

WNBA standings

But first, the Lynx had to handle business.

After trailing by 10 points late in the second quarter, the Lynx closed the half on an 8-0 run with buckets from Williams, Kayla McBride and Bridget Carleton — plus two forced turnovers on Angel Reese. The surge cut Chicago’s lead to two points at halftime.

Carleton knocked down a go-ahead three-pointer to start the third quarter, and, from there, it was off to the races. The Lynx outscored the Sky 24-17 in the period. The third quarter ended with a bang, as Collier hit a deep three off a feed from Williams to beat the buzzer, bringing the lead to 68-63.

Collier, the All-Star captain, was clinical. Although much quieter than Williams when it came to the smack talk, she let her game speak for her. She finished Monday night 7-for-14 from the field, 4-of-7 from deep and a perfect 11-for-11 from the line. She also recorded five assists, three rebounds and three steals.

Collier said the team’s activity — its steals, deflections and getting out in transition — made the difference Monday.

That was the case in the fourth quarter, in which the Lynx forced eight turnovers. The Lynx ripped off three straight steals late in the fourth — each one leading to a fast-break layup — to push the lead to 87–74 with under three minutes left.

Minnesota had 14 steals overall, good for a season high. That defensive pressure kept the Sky at arm’s length — they never came closer than five points in the final frame.

Chicago (7-14) was led by Reese’s 22 points and 10 rebounds — her ninth straight double-double — but the Sky were without starting guard Ariel Atkins for most of the game. She left in the second quarter because of a leg injury.

Monday marked the Lynx’s fourth game in six days, but they still looked like the fresher, sharper team.

“We made it a lot harder,” Reeve said. “It was harder for them [Chicago] to muster it up and get easy stuff ... we just improved as the game went on and we were trying to be opportunistic.”

So was Williams.

After finding herself at the center of some online chatter over the weekend, she had something to say Monday night — both on the court and off it.

“They wanted to be trolls, but they can’t troll a troll,” Williams said with a laugh following the win. “So we had to get our get back. They knew what time it was.”