INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Odyssey Sims scored 25 points, including two free throws with 29.1 seconds left, and the Minnesota Lynx held off the Indiana Fever 78-74 on Tuesday night despite blowing a 22-point lead.
Minnesota was ahead 43-23 at halftime until Indiana scored 24 of the next 30 points to tie it at 60. Kelsey Mitchell sank a fade-away 3-pointer with 6:07 remaining in the fourth quarter for the Fever’s first lead, 63-61, since a 5-4 advantage.
But Indiana did not score again until the 1:58 mark as Minnesota had 10 straight points, capped by Damiris Dantas’ 3-pointer, to rebuild its lead to 71-63. The Fever did not get closer than three points the rest of the way.
Napheesa Collier added 16 points and Sylvia Fowles had nine points and 11 rebounds for Minnesota (6-5). Sims also had seven rebounds, seven assists and five steals.
Mitchell scored 17 points and Erica Wheeler added 13 for Indiana (5-7), which would have set a team record for largest comeback with a victory.
Indiana was coming off a three-game road swing, ending with travel woes returning home. Mechanical issues with a plane in Seattle forced Indiana to miss its connecting flight in Atlanta and after alternative travel options were exhausted, the 18-member traveling party embarked on an 8 ½-hour bus trip from Georgia to Indiana. The Fever begin a three-game road swing on Friday at Phoenix.
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