Minnesota Lynx, playing without star Napheesa Collier, keep things perfect with comeback at Phoenix

Napheesa Collier has been saying it all season. The Minnesota Lynx’s superpower is resilience.

They proved it again Friday in Phoenix with Collier, the team’s star, watching from the bench.

Natisha Hiedeman’s three-pointer from the corner with 5.5 seconds left, which came seconds after Kayla McBride stole a Phoenix inbounds pass, gave the Lynx a 74-71 victory, their sixth straight win to start the season.

Hiedeman scored all of her nine points in the fourth quarter. The final shot came after she turned down a shot.

“I got the ball, I dribbled all the way up to the three-point line, and I passed [Courtney Williams] the ball,” said Hiedeman, who has sealed a Lynx victory with a late three-pointer in two of the past three games. “She passed it back to me. I’m sitting there, thinking in my head, ‘This for game right here. I got to knock this down.’ And that’s what I did. And that’s the game.”

In a nutshell, yes. But there was so much more.

Collier was out with knee soreness, a precautionary move, according to coach Cheryl Reeve, for a knee that has been sore since 2023.

Phoenix (4-2) was already without Kahleah Copper and Natasha Mack, and Alyssa Thomas was a late scratch with a calf injury.

Still, with Satou Sabally (26 points) and Kalani Brown (15) scoring early and often in the paint, this was a battle from the start.

But the Lynx found a way. First to play defense, holding Phoenix to 6-for-21 shooting in the final 10 minutes.

And finally, to score when it mattered.

Here’s how it broke down: Monique Akoa Makani’s second-chance 17-footer put the Mercury up three with 1:11 left.

At the other end, Williams, who to that point was 4-for-17 overall and 0-for-6 on threes, calmly hit a three-pointer with 57.9 seconds left to tie the game. Afterward Reeve, who often talks about Williams’ lack of short-term memory, marveled at Williams’ ability to keep shooting.

“Her confidence is unprecedented,” Reeve said.

At the other end the Lynx got a stop, but Hiedeman missed on a drive. With 15.9 seconds left Phoenix called a timeout.

The Mercury never got to run their play. Fighting through a pick, knowing the Lynx had a foul to give, McBride intercepted Sami Whitcomb’s inbounds pass, got the ball to Hiedeman, who got it to Williams, who gave it back.

“This team is really resilient,” said McBride, who scored 20 points with four assists; Alanna Smith scored 19 and Williams 11 with seven assists and seven rebounds. ”We didn’t have our best player on the floor, so things were a little funky. They made it hard for us, sped us up. We just kept plugging away. That’s what good teams do."

The Lynx were outshot. They were outscored 44-22 in the paint, 14-4 on the break. But, down five after three quarters, they kept plugging away.

BOXSCORE: Lynx 74, Mercury 71

WNBA standings

Even without Collier. But there was someone else to hit the game-winner.

“We have a lot of confidence in people stepping up,” Smith said of Hiedeman. “She’s done it twice now, hitting massing game-winning threes.”

And the Lynx, now 4-3 without Collier in the starting lineup since the start of the 2024 season, are still undefeated, still atop the league standings.

“She came back to us this year on a mission to really impact the team,” Reeve said of Hiedeman. “She’s helped us more than once when we really needed her. T is special. We needed everything she did tonight.”