St. Louisan Napheesa Collier seems to have made it a habit to make history throughout these WNBA playoffs.
Led by Collier and guard Courtney Williams, the Minnesota Lynx pulled off the greatest comeback in playoff history as they stunned the New York Liberty 95-93 in overtime to take a 1-0 lead in the WNBA Finals in Brooklyn.
In stealing Game 1, the Lynx became the first team in WNBA playoff history to win after trailing by at least 15 points with less than five minutes to play. The 6’1” Collier provided the winning points in overtime when she scored on a turnaround jumper in the lane with 8.8 seconds left.
The Lynx displayed great staying power as they made one big comeback after another to overtake the Liberty in front of their raucous home crowd at the Barclays Center. Minnesota trailed by as many as 18 points in the first half. They trailed by 11 points with 3:23 left in regulation before staging a late 12-0 spurt to take its first lead of the game on a four-point play by Williams.
Collier, the former Incarnate Word Academy All-American, was again front and center for the Lynx at both ends of the floor. She finished with 21 points and eight rebounds on 10 of 16 shooting from the floor, including the game winner.
Collier was also dominant on the defensive end as she had three steals and blocked six shots while also guarding Liberty star Breanna Stewart straight-up for the entire game, holding her former teammate to six of 21 shooting from the floor. Collier played 43 of the possible 45 minutes in the game.
Williams finished with a team-high 23 points along with five rebounds and five assists. Guard Kayla McBride finished with 22 points, giving the Lynx three players with at least 20 points.The Liberty were led by 6’6” center Jonquel Jones, who had 24 points and 10 rebounds.
The best of five series will resume on Sunday afternoon with Game 2 at the Barclays Center. Tip off is at 2 p.m. The game will be televised on ABC.
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