Williams scores 23 as Lynx win Game 1 of semifinals over Mercury 82-69

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Courtney Williams scored a game-high 23 points, Kayla McBride scored 21, and Napheesa Collier added 18 points and nine rebounds as the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx defeated the Phoenix Mercury 82-69 on Sunday in Game 1 of the best-of-five semifinal series.

The Lynx trailed by as many as nine and faced a seven-point deficit at halftime. As Phoenix threatened to even the game down the stretch, it was Williams and McBride making big shots to keep the Mercury at bay. McBride drilled a shot from deep to put the Lynx up 73-67 with under four minutes to play, and Minnesota never looked back.

Game 2 is Tuesday in Minneapolis before the teams head to Phoenix for Game 3 on Friday.

After surrendering 47 points in the first half, Minnesota's players came together at halftime to brainstorm ways to slow Phoenix down. The veteran Williams was a vocal voice in that conversation, according to head coach Cheryl Reeve.

Williams then went out and provided a spark for the Lynx in the second half, recording a career-high five steals while scoring 12 of her points after halftime.

“When she's out there hooping and confident, it's contagious," McBride said of Williams. “It just becomes a lot of fun out there playing the game within the game.”

Kahleah Copper led Phoenix with 22 points and Alyssa Thomas had 18. Mercury leading scorer Satou Sabally (16.3 ppg) was held to just 10 points.

Collier, who finished second to Las Vegas’ A’ja Wilson in the WNBA MVP voting announced earlier in the day, had 10 first-quarter points but didn’t score at all in the second quarter. She scored eight points in the third as the Lynx evened the game at 59 heading to the final quarter.

Phoenix did its damage almost solely in the paint in the first half. Of the Mercury’s 47 first-half points, 42 came in the paint as Minnesota couldn’t find an answer defensively.

The Mercury scored just seven points in the paint after halftime and had only 22 total second-half points.

“They really did a good job defensively in the second half,” said Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts. “They turned it up at that end.”

Sunday’s game was a quick turnaround for fourth-seeded Phoenix. After beating the defending champion New York Liberty on Friday night, the Mercury flew to Minnesota on Saturday.

The same two teams faced each other four times during the regular season, with Minnesota winning three of those matchups. But the Lynx hadn't seen a healthy Mercury lineup before Sunday. Copper didn’t play in any of those four games, and Thomas and Sabally each missed at least one game against Minnesota.

“The other (Mercury) teams that we saw didn't look anything like this, so we knew it would be a learning experience for us," said Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball