NEW YORK (AP) - Maya Moore’s life becomes a lot easier on offense when her Minnesota teammates are all scoring.
Moore scored 16 points to lead the balanced Lynx to a 90-71 victory over New York on Thursday night. All five of the Lynx starters were in double figures, with Lindsay Whalen and Sylvia Fowles each adding 12 points.
“When everyone gets involved and we have that balanced scoring it’s a great thing for us,” Moore said. “We always feel better when we can play to our potential.”
New York (1-1) also may have lost point guard Brittany Boyd for a while after she injured Achilles in the fourth quarter. She will have an MRI on Friday.
“Whatever the details of the situation is. It’s a business,” said Tina Charles, who had just six points. “People go down someone else has to step up. We’ll handle it accordingly.”
New York led 45-43 before Minnesota scored 17 of the next 19 points to go up 60-47 midway through the third quarter. Whalen had the final six points during the game-changing burst.
The Lynx (2-0) were up 14 early in the fourth quarter before Boyd sparked a Liberty run. New York’s point guard scored four straight to start a 7-0 run. Rebecca Allen capped it with a 3-pointer to make it 74-67, but that’s as close as New York could get. Boyd finished with 16 points. Sugar Rodgers led the Liberty with 20.
New York scored the first eight points of the game before Minnesota went on a 22-6 run to take an early advantage. The Lynx led 43-40 at the half despite only four points from Moore.
JERSEY RETIREMENT: Fowles will have her jersey retired at LSU next season. The school announced it a few days ago that she’d be the 12th athlete or coach to have their jersey retired at the school. Fowles joins Minnesota teammate Seimone Augustus as the only female basketball players to have that honor at LSU.
“It means a lot to me,” Fowles said. “When they first called me I wasn’t sure if they were being serious, but then when I knew it was for real I was so incredibly honored by it.”
Fowles, who plays in China in the winter, said she will work with the school to come up with a date that will work for the ceremony.
TIP-INS:
LYNX: Rebekkah Brunson had four rebounds and is one short of 3,000 in her career. That would make her the fifth player in league history to accomplish that feat.
LIBERTY: Charles’ career low is two points, last done in 2015. … Coach Bill Laimbeer turns 60 on Friday. His wife surprised him by flying in their son, Eric and daughter, Keri.
GETTING PRESIDENTIAL: NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was at the game as well as WNBA President Lisa Borders.
UP NEXT:
LYNX: At Dallas on Saturday.
LIBERTY: At Phoenix on Tuesday to begin a two-game road swing.
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