WNBA Finals tied at 1-1 as series shifts to Minneapolis

For a moment, Game 2 of the WNBA Finals nearly looked as if it would end the way Game 1 did between the Minnesota Lynx and New York Liberty as Minnesota worked to erase a double-figure deficit late in the fourth quarter on Sunday.

Those hoping for a Lynx comeback quickly saw those dreams fade away as the Liberty went on a 12-0 run to close out Game 2, sealing an 80-66 victory in Brooklyn, tying the best-of-five series at 1-1.

"This was bad," said Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve. "At a time when we really needed it, our pace was slow, taking too long to get into things. I don't think we were terribly hard to play against from that standpoint and that was obviously a difficult time to be doing that."

Breanna Stewart led the Liberty with 21 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and set a WNBA Finals record with 7 steals. Stewart had 18 points and 0 steals in during the Liberty's loss in Game 1.

"She's resilient," Reeve said of Stewart. "She played exactly like we thought she would. I thought she played great in Game 1. Her impact defensively is something that we felt."

Napheesa Collier scored 16 points, Courtney Williams had 15, while Alanna Smith added 14 points for the Lynx who saw just 5 points off the bench compared to 7 points off the bench for New York.

"We're really disappointed in how we played today," Collier said. "We're excited to go home and play in-front of our crowd. We have to respond. We have to come out and play better than we have in the first two games. It's hard. We're both competing for a championship, you have to play with a level of desperation from the very beginning."

Game 3 is set for Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Target Center, with Game 4 set for Friday night in downtown Minneapolis.