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Wednesday, May 31 8:00pm ET
Smith goes 6 of 7 from downtown | |||||
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BOX SCORE
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- The Minnesota Lynx revamped their roster, and yet their biggest transformation was a familiar face. Katie Smith, hampered last season by a knee injury, scored a franchise-record 34 points as the new-look Lynx opened their second season with a 73-62 victory over the Cleveland Rockers on Wednesday night. Kristin Folkl added 15 points for the Lynx, who have just five players left from last year and started an entirely new lineup from their inaugural opener a year ago. Smith, who missed the opener last year while recovering from an operation to repair a ligament in her right knee, also tied a team record with six 3-pointers. "Anyone who comes off a knee injury is a step behind," Smith said. "I feel better after my year with the U.S. team and I have an attitude to be aggressive this year." Her previous career high was 27 points, set Aug. 11, 1999. The old team record was 28 set twice last summer by Brandy Reed, who was traded to Phoenix in the offseason. Smith topped both marks with her fifth 3-pointer with 7:52 left. That gave her 29 points and provided the Lynx with a 56-51 lead. Smith was 9-of-16 from the floor, 6-of-7 from 3-point range, 10-of-14 from the foul line and led the Lynx with seven rebounds, six of them defensive. "Katie is a natural-born leader and she proved that tonight," Folkl said. "Because she's not one dimensional, you can't shut her down. That's what we expect out of her and I think night in and night out, that's what you'll see." Rockers coach Dan Hughes said Smith was impossible to stop. "She hurt us in different ways," he said. "She hurt us off the pass, she hurt us off the dribble. She obviously was the dominant player on the floor." Smith said she's not going to be a bystander like she was forced to be so often last year while still recuperating. "I took what they gave me. I'm not going to make it easy on them and just sit back and pass the ball," she said. Eva Nemcova led the Rockers with 20 points, but she didn't get to the free throw line, where she hit 62 straight last season after missing her first. The Rockers trailed just 63-60 with 3½ minutes left but Smith scored five points as the Lynx closed the game with a 10-2 run. Smith scored 18 points in the first 16 minutes and her fourth 3-pointer gave the Lynx a 34-24 lead. Nemcova then scored eight points in an 11-1 run that tied it at 35 with just over a minute left in the half, and the Rockers trailed 37-36 at halftime. | ALSO SEE WNBA Scoreboard Rockers dive into unchartered Wauters
Lynx open season with many new faces
RECAPS Washington 92 Orlando 66
Minnesota 73
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