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MINNEAPOLIS — – Courtney Williams scored a season-high 26 points, Kayla McBride hit a deep 3-pointer with 30.8 seconds left and the Minnesota Lynx beat the defending WNBA champion New York Liberty 86-80 on Saturday.
New York beat the Lynx 3-2 in the best-of-five 2024 WNBA Finals to win the franchise’s first championship. Since then, Minnesota has won three straight against the Liberty.
Minnesota (28-5) has won six in a row and 10 of 11 overall.
DiJonnai Carrington won a jump ball against Natasha Cloud with 25.2 seconds left and the Liberty were forced to foul. McBride – who went into the game shooting 93.8% (75 of 80) from the line this season – hit two of four free throws before Jessica Shepard made two free throws to cap the scoring with 3.6 seconds left.
McBride finished with 17 points and Jessica Shepard added 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Lynx. Alanna Smith finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and four blocks.
Jonquel Jones led New York (21-13) with 17 points and Sabrina Ionescu had 13 points and 10 assists. Marine Johannès added 12 points and Kennedy Burke 11.
The Lynx led 38-27 with two minutes left in the first half, but New York answered with a 16-0 run to close the second quarter and open the third. Jones capped the spurt with a three-point play about 1 1/2 minutes into the second half.
Napheesa Collier (ankle) missed her fourth consecutive game for the Lynx. Collier, the frontrunner for the WNBA MVP, has missed seven games this season. Jonquel Jones missed five games in 2021, the most by any player to be named league MVP.
Two-time WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart (knee) missed her 10th straight game for the Liberty.
The teams play again Tuesday at the Barclays Center in New York.
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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/WNBAbr/]
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