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Thursday, Jun. 15 8:00pm ET
Rookie Lennox leads Lynx with 25 | |||||
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BOX SCORE
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- The rookie started it and the veterans sealed it -- that's how the Minnesota Lynx are winning this year. Betty Lennox scored a career-high 25 points and Katie Smith had 24 as the Lynx beat the Orlando Miracle 72-66 on Thursday night to extend their winning streak to a franchise-record four games. Smith shot 12-for-12 from the foul line to set a franchise record. "This is a fun team," said Smith, in her second year with Minnesota. "In the beginning of the season, I realized the new players are exciting." "I think Betty was really aggressive tonight," she added. Lennox, the rookie who also grabbed six rebounds, got the Lynx going in the first half when her teammates couldn't find the basket. She scored 14 of Minnesota's 32 first-half points. "Our team gave me a lot of good looks tonight, and we came out with a lot of intensity," said Lennox, who also scored 24 points in last Thursday's 71-57 win at Orlando. Sonja Tate added 13 points for Minnesota, which scored 23 points off 24 Orlando turnovers. Tate and Smith played together for three seasons with the Columbus Quest of the ABL before moving to Minnesota. They are both considered team leaders. "We really have a great team family," Tate said. "We're trying to teach the young players." Nykesha Sales scored 23 points, including a four-point play, and Adrienne Johnson added a career-high 20 for the Miracle. Cintia dos Santos had a career-high 11 rebounds for Orlando, which had won two straight. "We had to focus on Katie, because we know she is a scorer," Johnson said. "But Sonja came off the bench and gave them a great boost." Orlando shot 52.2 percent in the first half and Minnesota shot just 29.7 percent, but the Lynx led 32-31 at the break. The difference was that Minnesota shot 8-for-8 at the foul line and forced 16 Miracle turnovers. "When we would try to run our offense, they would be at our spot before we would," Sales said. "They have great anticipation. After the teams traded baskets for the first six minutes of the second half, the Lynx outscored the Miracle 17-9 to take a 56-46 lead with 6:42 left. The Miracle did not get closer than four points the rest of the way. Although, they kept it interesting by scoring 11 points in a 15-second span at the end of the game. "We had a couple people out there thinking the game was over with a minute to go," Minnesota coach Brian Agler said. "That's exactly what we talked about after the game." Minnesota shot just 34.9 percent from the field to Orlando's 46.3. The Lynx had a three-game winning streak last season. | ALSO SEE WNBA Scoreboard RECAPS Washington 0 Indiana 0
Minnesota 72
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