Lynx vs. Sun: Olivia Miles Breaks WNBA Rookie Season Scoring Record in Minnesota's 101-89 Win

Olivia Miles stepped to the free-throw line with 9:31 left in the second quarter on Sunday and calmly made a little WNBA history. That point was the 770th of her rookie season, one more than the 769 Caitlin Clark scored for Indiana in 2024, and it handed Miles the league's rookie record for points in a season.

Then she and Napheesa Collier went back to work. Collier scored 23, Miles added 21, and the Minnesota Lynx shook off their first three-game losing streak of the season with a 101-89 win over the Connecticut Sun at Mohegan Sun Arena. The Lynx never trailed, and the result left them on the doorstep of the No. 1 seed.

Minnesota Came Out Swinging

The Lynx wasted no time. Collier scored the game's first four points, Courtney Williams chipped in five during the opening burst against the franchise she starred for over five seasons, and Minnesota was up 11-2 about three and a half minutes in. A 10-0 run later in the quarter made it 23-6, and the Lynx led 27-12 after one. Collier had 10 of those points by herself.

The cushion swelled to 45-26 on a Collier layup with 3:44 left in the half. Then Connecticut found a heartbeat, reeling off a 15-4 burst to get within eight. Collier answered that, too, with a three-point play at the 25.2-second mark, and Minnesota scored the last three points of the half and the first six of the third to build an 18-point lead at 61-43.

Connecticut Would Not Go Quietly

What kept this from becoming a total blowout was a Sun team that suddenly could not miss from deep. Connecticut drained 12 of its first 19 attempts from beyond the arc, and early in the fourth quarter the deficit was down to seven at 78-71. For a team playing out the string, the Sun had real fight.

Minnesota responded the way a 32-win team should. The Lynx ran off eight straight points to make it 86-71, and Connecticut never got closer than 10 over the final five minutes. The Sun finished 15 for 28 from 3-point range, while the Lynx went just 4 for 21 and still won by 12.

How does that happen? Math, mostly. Minnesota made 25 of 27 free throws to Connecticut's 12 of 19, owned the paint 50-32, and turned 20 Connecticut turnovers into 25 points. You can survive a frigid night from distance when you are living at the rim and the stripe.

The Stars Delivered

Collier was steady all afternoon: 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting, a perfect 5 for 5 at the line, six rebounds and two steals. Miles was even more efficient, scoring 21 on 7-of-10 shooting with six assists, two steals and a 6-for-6 day at the line. The record point was the headline, but her whole game was the story. She ran the offense like someone who has been doing it for a decade, not a few months.

Natasha Howard might have been the most impactful Lynx player in the trenches. She scored 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds, six of them on the offensive glass, and she scored twice in the final 3:13, both times on feeds from Kayla McBride. McBride shot only 3 of 12 but made all six of her free throws, dished six assists and buried the 3 with 1:39 left that pushed the lead to 15. Williams chipped in 11.

The Sun's Shooters Had Their Moment

Diamond Miller, Leila Lacan and Gianna Kneepkens each scored 15 for Connecticut. Kneepkens did it off the bench on 5-of-7 shooting and was a plus-3 in 20 minutes, which is not easy to pull off in a 12-point loss. Aaliyah Edwards added 12, Raegan Beers scored 11 in just 11 minutes, and Charlisse Leger-Walker had 10 points and eight assists, including two late 3s. The Sun also lost Saniya Rivers to an injury in the first quarter, and she did not return.

The Turning Point

The 8-0 Lynx run early in the fourth. Connecticut had sliced a 20-point deficit to seven and had all the momentum. Minnesota answered immediately, pushed the margin back to 15, and the Sun spent the rest of the afternoon chasing.

Stats That Matter

• 770: The point that gave Miles the WNBA rookie record for points in a season, one past Clark's 769.
• 25 of 27: Minnesota's free throws. Connecticut went 12 of 19.
• 50-32: The Lynx's edge in the paint.
• 15 of 28: Connecticut's 3-point shooting, compared with Minnesota's 4 of 21.

What It Means

Minnesota improved to 32-10, including a ridiculous 18-3 on the road, and took the season series from Connecticut 2-1. Per the AP, the Lynx now need just one more win, or one Golden State loss, to clinch home-court advantage for the entire postseason. They finish the regular season with two games against Indiana, beginning Tuesday on the road.

Connecticut fell to 10-32 overall and 7-14 at home, and has lost five in a row. The afternoon was about more than the standings, though. Before tipoff the Sun honored Mike Thibault, who coached the franchise from its first season in 2003 through 2012. The AP noted it was the team's next-to-last game in Connecticut, with the franchise relocating to Houston next season, and Nicki Collen, Tina Charles, Taj McWilliams Franklin and Bria Hartley were among the former coaches and players in the building. The Sun visit Washington on Tuesday.

Closing Take

The best twist of the day came from the visiting bench. Mike Thibault's son, Eric, is an assistant on Minnesota's staff, alongside Lindsay Whalen, who played for Mike in the 2004 WNBA Finals. So the Sun threw a farewell party for a franchise legend, and his son's team crashed it with 101 points. Very Succession, minus the backstabbing.

And somewhere in the middle of it, a rookie broke a league record without much fanfare. That is the scary part for everyone else in the WNBA: Miles is just getting started.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Records and pregame details as reported by the Associated Press.