The Dallas Wings scored four points in the final five seconds of the first half to enter the locker room all knotted up with the visiting Minnesota Lynx at 46-46 on WNBA opening night at the College Park Center in Arlington, Texas. The home team shot nearly 50% from the field in the first half and punished the visitors in transition, holding a 12-3 advantage in fast break points.
Not a single person in the visiting locker room was pleased with the effort.
“At halftime, our transition defense was a mess,” Lynx head coach and president of basketball operations Cheryl Reeve said. “They had their way with us. They absolutely had their way with us. It’s a 25-point second quarter, and then the turnovers at the end of the quarter, it was a bad ending to the quarter and most of it was rooted in defense.”
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For a Lynx team coming off a season in which they allowed the lowest field goal percentage in the league, and finished at or near the top in most defensive categories, a 46-point first half is an unacceptable number any way you slice it.
Another staple for the Lynx team of yesteryear was taking advantage of the halftime break to turn lessons learned in the first half into excellence and execution in the second.
“Honestly, I think we just started picking up our defense,” Lynx point guard Courtney Williams said. “We understand that if we lock in on D, it makes our offense feel a lot smoother, a lot easier. I think that was our point of emphasis when we came into the locker room — our transition defense and just make sure we’re there for each other. That’s how we got so far last year. We locked in on that and that just made our offense feel a lot easier.”
The Lynx and Wings traded baskets out of the gate, until a 15-2 run ignited by Williams and reigning Defensive Player of the Year Napheesa Collier put on an offensive fireworks show. It put the game out of reach, ultimately spoiling the professional debut of No. 1 overall pick Paige Bueckers by a final score of 99-84.
Dallas held a one-point lead early in the third quarter. Moments later, a nine-point deficit was the closest they’d come to catching the Lynx. Minnesota outscored the Wings 35-20 in the 3rd quarter, with 33 coming from the scorching hot duo of Collier and Williams. Collier nearly outscored Dallas on her own, posting a career-high 18 points in a single quarter.
“I think it was needed,” Collier said when asked postgame about the 3rd quarter explosion. “We understand our role in that, especially when we’re struggling, we need to be the ones that are taking over. Courtney’s was all midrange, exactly where she wants to be. I was getting to the paint more, diving and posting up in there. I think just understanding that when we need to start hitting some or get in the flow, that we need to take over a little bit more.”
Minnesota responded to the halftime challenge and played a much more Lynx-like half defensively. They also addressed a simple, one-syllable call to action written on the locker room white board.
“[Collier] was aggressive. I think she knew the spaces that she could be in, and I thought we were persistent in getting her there,” Reeve said. “That was one of the things that we said before the game, we had on the board, ‘Phee.’ We need to understand where Phee needs the ball and we can’t go multiple possessions without that happening, so we had great recognition in the third on that.”
Collier finished with 34 points on the night; just one point shy of matching her regular season career high, and per Lynx PR, the most points ever scored in league history by a reigning Defensive Player of the Year on opening night.
Williams didn’t miss a shot in the second half. She shot 2-for-2 from behind the 3-point line, 6-for-6 inside the line, and another 3-for-3 at the line. She also dished out a game-high nine assists and her 25 points marked the most she’s scored in a Lynx uniform.
“I came into the game just telling myself, ‘the work gonna show,’” Williams said. “I’ve been in the gym, getting here early, getting shots up. This is the first time in my career I done did that. I hate to say that, but it’s the truth. It’s the first time I actually did just that extra, like when it comes to my handles, my shot, my three. So, like I said, I think the work’s just showing at this point.”
The term ‘revenge tour’ has been used around Minnesota’s practice facility throughout training camp and the preseason. Missing multiple starters in Kayla McBride and Alanna Smith was not part of the plan to start the tour off on the best foot possible, but the Lynx still managed to cross of win No. 1 on their long list of goals for 2025.
“Phee said in the locker room, ‘43 more,’ so you can’t be satisfied,” Williams said. “Obviously teams are going to start game planning, teams are going to throw different defenses at us, so we’ve got to be ready to respond, but we know what we’ve got to do. We ready for the challenge. We stacking our days so we excited to get the season rolling and go get us one.”
Minnesota got its first one, and along with it, more than one lesson and learning opportunity of how to win the next 43.
“We would like to win, you know, learn from winning,” Reeve said. “There’s a lot to learn from this game. We are far, far from where we need to be defensively, very far.”
While the Lynx may still be very far from the championship-level finished product they aspire to be, a dominant performance from their ‘M-V-Phee’ candidate bodes well for reaching the lofty goals set in Minnesota this summer and beyond.
“It’s her year, man. It’s her year to go get it,” Williams said. “All she’s got to do is just keep doing what she’s doing. Our team success, we’re successful as Phee is. As long as she comes out and do Phee things, she should be getting what she deserves, and that’s that MVP straight up.”
Collier, as expected, downplayed the importance of individual accolades when she took her turn at the postgame podium.
“Courtney’s always my biggest supporter. She’s always got my back, my hype man,” Collier said. “More than MVP, I want us to win a championship this year, so that’s what I’m focused on and the awards come after that. Of course you want to win those awards, but I’m more focused on the team. I want us to win a championship.”
Friday night served as the first of many necessary steps towards capturing a shred of satisfaction and also a fifth championship for the Lynx.
For the Wings fans in attendance, who dealt with the steeper price of admission that comes with a 351% demand in tickets as StubHub reported this past April, there was no reason to feel as unsatisfied as the visiting team. They paid extra to see a dominant performance from a former national champion and UConn legend at the top of her game.
That’s precisely what they got.
