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Friday, Jul. 28 9:00pm ET
Minnesota 68, Miami 44 | |||||
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BOX SCORE
MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Katie Smith scored 18 of her 25 points in the second half, when she nearly outscored the expansion Miami Sol and led the Minnesota Lynx to a 68-44 victory. Minnesota (12-13) has won two in a row following an eight-game losing streak. Miami (9-17) matched its season low in scoring and has lost six straight road games. Smith scored seven points in the first half, when the Lynx opened a 30-20 lead over the offensively challenged Sol. She caught fire in the second half, making all three of her 3-pointers. "Katie didn't get off to a great start," Minnesota coach Brian Agler said. "She shot well, but she didn't score a lot of points." Smith was 4-of-4 from behind the arc and has 75 3-pointers this season, one shy of the WNBA record set by New York's Crystal Robinson in 1999. "This year I've been able to knock down my shot on and off," Smith said. "If I get the 3-point record, somebody else will break it." While Smith was making 7-of-9 shots after halftime, Miami made just 9-of-28, matching its numbers from the first half. The Sol went scoreless for over five minutes in the second half. "We didn't get off to a great start offensively, but defensively we played well the entire 40 minutes and that was the key to the game," Agler said. "We need to make shots," Miami coach Ron Rothstein said. "No player tonight played particularly well offensively. We just need to make the shots. It's frustrating for everyone -- the coaching staff, the players. All we can do is try to work through it." A three-point play by Jamie Cassidy with 1:51 left allowed Miami to tie its previous low against Phoenix on June 24. The meager output dropped the Sol below the Seattle Storm as the league's worst offensive team at 56.8 points per game. Betty Lennox and Kristin Folkl scored 12 points apiece for the Lynx, who posted the largest victory margin in franchise history and swept the two-game season series. Grace Daley added nine points for Minnesota, which shot 44 percent (23-of-52), including a sizzling 8-of-11 from the arc. Smith outscored the Sol's starting lineup, which managed just 23 points on 10-of-30 shooting. Sheri Sam scored eight points and Shantia Owens added seven for Miami, which was 2-of-11 from the arc and 6-of-13 from the line. "Katie Smith went 10-of-13 and scored 25 points. That tells the story," said Sol guard Debbie Black, who scored two points. "We were keying on her defensively and she was still able to get her shots. You have to give them credit." | ALSO SEE WNBA Scoreboard RECAPS Cleveland 80 Detroit 60
Minnesota 68 AUDIO/VIDEO   Katie Smith dominated the expansion Miami Sol.avi: 976 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 | |||||