In the biggest moment of the season, Bridget Carleton drained two free throws to give the Lynx a two-point lead with just two second remaining in the game at the Target Center on Friday night.
Sabrina Ionescu's last-second shot didn't fall this time, as the Lynx held off the Liberty to win 82-80 to force a winner-take-all Game 5 on Sunday.
Minnesota opened the must-win scoring the first four points, while forcing missed shots from Breanna Stewart and Leonie Fiebich. The Lynx and Liberty traded the lead seven times throughout the opening quarter, a significant uptick after just three lead changes in the opening three games of the series.
The Lynx's suffocating defense held Sabrina Ionescu to just two points on one-of-three shooting while Stewart went 0-7 from the field in the first quarter.
Stewart banked her first bucket of the game with 7:17 left in the second to give New York a four-point lead. She also got into foul trouble, drawing her third foul with 57 seconds left in the first half.
Minnesota ended the first half on an 11-6 run to take a 46-45 lead at the break. The Lynx ended the first half shooting 51.5% from the field but being outrebounded 21-13 by New York.
Alanna Smith opened the second half with a three pointer to extend the Lynx's lead. Minnesota would eventually extend their lead to 55-50 off a pair of Natisha Hiedeman free throws. Hiedeman had been limited early on after jamming her non-shooting hand thumb, which forced Courtney Williams into a heavy workload early on.
New York then went on a nine-point run over the next minute, forcing a timeout from Minnesota.
Courtney Williams found Smith for a 23-foot three-pointer to even the score at 61-61 with 2:34 left in the third quarter.
Minnesota would close out the third quarter on a 9-2 run to take a 64-63 lead into the final 10 minutes of Game 4.
Ionescu drove to the rim, banking a layup to tie the game at 70 with 6:12 left. After Jonquel Jones blocked a Lynx shot, Fiebich made another Liberty layup to put New York back on top with 5:47 to play.
Williams found Smith for a wide open layup as the Lynx took a 74-72 lead with 3:55 left. Bridget Carleton drilled a corner three a little more than 30-seconds later to open a five-point lead.
Napheesa Collier was called for a shooting foul on Jones, who made the following free throw to level the game at 80-80 with just 1:10 left to play.
Stewart missed a late bucket as the Liberty were assessed with a shot clock violation with just 18.1 seconds left on the clock, giving Minnesota the opportunity for the final shot of the game.
Williams missed an 18-foot pullup jumper with just four seconds to play but Bridget Carleton grabbed the rebound and was fouled on the proceeding shot. Carleton's late free throws sealed an 82-80 win for the Lynx.
A winner-take-all Game 5 is set for 7 p.m. CT in Brooklyn.
Local News
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