By GERRY deSIMAS, JR.
Connecticut Sports Online
UNCASVILLE, Conn., July 25 – Being around winning teams isn’t new to Minnesota Lynx head coach Suzie McConnell-Serio. She coached Oakland Catholic High School in Pittsburgh to over 321 victories in 13 seasons and three Class AAA championships in Pennsylvania. Twice, she played on the U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team, winning gold in 1988.
The Lynx are currently in third place in the WNBA’s Western Conference at 13-10, 3½ games behind front-running Los Angeles. But there is an aura around this team that makes McConnell-Serio and the entire team smile.
“I’ve got a sense about this team,” she said as her Lynx warmed up for a contest with the Connecticut Sun at the Mohegan Sun Arena. “I get a sense about this team that is something special.
“These players are genuinely happy for each other. They want to win. But they also cheer for each other,” she said.
On a cloudy, mid-July evening, the Lynx throttled the Sun, 68-52, winning a team-record sixth straight game and for the eighth time in its last nine games. In the easiest victory of the run, Minnesota controlled the boards and got several easy baskets in transition and off inbounds plays.
With 12:03 left and with a dominating 13-point lead, the entire bench stood and cheered after their star Katie Smith was fouled going to the basket. “Chemistry is just so important and they have very good chemistry,” McConnell-Serio said.
“We have some great players and great coaches and we really care about each other,” said Smith. “They are players you want to play with. You know they have your back and you have theirs. No one hangs their head. It’s a special group.”
A year ago, McConnell-Serio led Minnesota to its first winning record (18-16) and playoff berth. But they were bounced in three games by Los Angeles.
When Minnesota came to play on opening night this May, they had seven new players on its including Kansas State forward Nicole Ohlde, who Minnesota grabbed with the sixth pick in the WNBA draft, Florida center Vanessa Hayden (7th pick) and guard Amber Jacobs of Boston College (3rd round). And they grabbed experienced guard Helen Darling from Cleveland in the dispersal draft.
“We had seven new players. It took some time to get adjusted,” McConnell-Serio said. “It took longer than we had anticipated.”
Minnesota’s record of 13-10 is the best in team history at this point of the season.
Smith, a four-time WNBA All-Star, is the anchor that the Lynx are built around. The U.S. Olympian is the third leading scorer in the WNBA (18.8 ppg) and leads the league in three-point goals (59). That frees up Ohlde and third-year forward Tamika Williams to rip down rebounds in the paint and gives guards Darling and veteran Teresa Edwards room to maneuver.
Ohlde came into the Connecticut game ranked second among rookies in the WNBA in scoring (11.0 ppg) and first in field goal percentage (44.1), rebounding (6.0 rpg) and blocks (1.43 bpg). She had a career-high five against the Sun. Ohlde and Williams are No. 4 and No. 5, respectively, in the league at grabbing offensive rebounds.
After a 5-7 start, Darling took over as the starting point guard and Edwards, who turned 40 on July 20, has moved to shooting guard. The team is 8-3 since the move.
“Winning always breeds confidence,” McConnell-Serio said. “We talk about not being complacent, staying hungry and staying focused.”
Minnesota erased a 20-point deficit to beat Phoenix, 61-59, on July 9 – the biggest comeback in team history. The Lynx won thanks to 27 points from its bench including crucial three-point shots from Stacey Lovelace-Tolbert and Amanda Lassiter in the final 1:18. Minnesota has erased double-digit deficits four times to win this year.
On June 30, they erased a 11-point deficit and eventually beat Houston, 58-50 in OT, shutting out the Comets 8-0 in the extra session. On July 11, Minnesota outscored Sacramento 12-2 in OT to earn a 83-73 win.
“Everyone is doing some good things,” Smith said. “Earlier in the year, we allowed people to make a run on us. Now, our concentration is better. We’re doing a better job of answering runs and making plays at both ends of the court when we need to.”
On July 15 at New York, Smith scored seven of her 12 points in the final 1:58 to spark a 69-66 win but Vanessa Hayden, Amber Jacobs and Ohlde each had 11 points. On July 14 at home against Connecticut, Ohlde had 21 points and 11 rebounds while Williams chipped in with 10 points.
Hayden had 10 her 12 points in the final five minutes as Minnesota outscored Detroit 30-12 in the last 14:27 to beat the Shock on July 3.
Defensively, the Lynx have been stingy. Connecticut shot 31.3 percent from the floor – its worst shooting effort of the season. The Lynx limited Houston to 32.3 percent shooting and allowed San Antonio to shoot 25.9 percent from the floor on June 24 – a Lynx team record for defense. A day later, they held Washington to 26.2 percent shooting.
“It is definitely a focus for us,” McConnell-Serio said. “We make a conscious effort to get out and defend the other team’s three-point shooters.”
Smith has stood tall defensively, too. She held Connecticut’s Nykesha Sales (15.4 ppg) to just four points, helped limit Phoenix’s Diana Taurasi (18.0) to 11 points on June 5 and Houston’s Sheryl Swoopes (15.6) to nine points on June 30.
Minnesota has yet to face some real adversity and McConnell-Serio shrugged when asked how her team would handle it. Smith scored 19 points before leaving in the second half of a 63-61 loss to Washington on July 23 with a sprained her right knee fighting for a loose ball.
Of course, after the victory over Connecticut when Smith scored 27 points and had a season-high six 3-point goals, she had an ice bag on her left wrist that she jammed a few days earlier against Phoenix and an ice bag on her right elbow for a hit she took against the Sun.
“There is something special about this team,” McConnell-Serio repeated afterwards. “They trust each other and they believe in each other.”
