Moore Struggles But Lynx Get Past Shock 83-74
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Rebekkah Brunson scored 19 points and Lindsay Whalen added 17 to help the Minnesota Lynx overcome a poor performance by Maya Moore and beat the Tulsa Shock 83-74 on Friday night.
Moore, who came in leading the WNBA with 22.3 points per game, was held to just 10 on 4-of-12 shooting. Seimone Augustus chipped in with 11 points for Minnesota, which improved to 4-1.
"For sure, we do like when we can take some pressure off Maya," Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said. "It's what we do as a team."
Glory Johnson led the Shock (1-6) with 22 points and nine rebounds, while Candace Wiggins scored 18 and played shutdown defense on Moore.
"Very rarely did Maya have a pass that led to a layup," Reeve said. "Credit Tulsa's defense."
Riquna Williams scored 16 points for Tulsa and Nicole Powell added 10.
"We had some communication breakdowns and the way they shoot you have to contest them," Shock coach Gary Kloppenburg said. "We've had three- or four-minute spans when we sort of go into a funk offensively. You can't do that against this team."
The Lynx took a 39-35 lead at the break and pushed it to 66-53 heading into the fourth quarter before holding off a late rally.
Minnesota outrebounded Tulsa 48-30. Brunson did a majority of the damage with 13, nine on the defensive side.
"Brunson, she's just a monster," Kloppenburg said. "The key is keeping them off the glass and she is just so good at going around a player to the rim. Holding Maya to 10 points is nice, but they have so many weapons."
Tulsa rookie Skylar Diggins, the third pick in this year's draft, was 1-of-6 from the field and scored her only basket with 3:47 left in the game.
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