Lynx vs. Wings: Kayla McBride Hits WNBA Single-Game Record 10 3-Pointers as Minnesota Clinches Playoff Spot

With 2:23 left on Sunday at Target Center, Napheesa Collier slid the ball to Kayla McBride 23 feet from the rim, and a number the WNBA had never seen went up on the board. Ten 3-pointers, one player, one game. Nine had been the ceiling for the entire history of the league, and McBride walked through it like a beaded curtain.

She finished 10 of 14 from deep with a career-high 43 points, and Minnesota beat the Dallas Wings 103-90. The win also made the Lynx the first team in the league to clinch a playoff spot, which on most afternoons would lead every recap in America. On this one it barely cracked the second paragraph.

Dallas Had the Nerve to Make It a Game

Nothing in the first 20 minutes looked like a coronation. Dallas led 23-21 after one quarter, then stretched a 12-0 run across the break between periods, flipping a 21-17 deficit into a 29-21 lead. Eight points would be the biggest cushion the Wings saw all day, but for a few minutes Target Center had the energy of a group chat going quiet.

Minnesota answered with nine straight to go from down 35-32 to up 41-35. Dallas hit back with eight unanswered to retake the lead at 45-42. The Lynx scored the last five of the half and went to the locker room ahead 47-45, in a game that featured six lead changes and very little evidence that either defense had read the assignment.

The floor tilted in the third. Minnesota won the quarter 29-23 to lead 76-68, then pushed the margin to 16 in the fourth. Dallas never stopped scoring, finishing 37 of 68 from the field, and on a normal Sunday that wins you a basketball game. This was not a normal Sunday.

How a Hot Hand Turns Into a Historic One

According to The Athletic's account on WNBA.com, McBride opened 4 for 4 from the field and was 12 of 13 at one point, with six 3s in that stretch. Then came the only suspense of her afternoon: three straight missed jumpers to end the third quarter, the basketball equivalent of your Wi-Fi cutting out right before the finale.

The signal came back. McBride hit four more 3s in the fourth, the last of them off that Collier feed to make it 98-83, and Minnesota drew up one more look to try to push the number higher before pulling her with 1:21 remaining. The building stood, and the crowd chanted "Kayla" after she sat.

The final line: 16 of 21 from the field, 43 points in 32 minutes, no fouls, plus-16. Per The Athletic, the 43 is now the most by a Lynx player in a regulation game. Nine 3s had been reached more than once before this, most recently by Toronto's Marina Mabrey on June 25, according to the AP, so this was a record under real pressure. McBride just got there first.

"I love this game, and it's been so good to me," McBride said on the broadcast. "When I have opportunities like that, I want to give it back."

The Cast Around the Main Character

Olivia Miles would have been the story on a different day: 20 points, 13 assists and 5 of 8 from deep in 34 minutes. Her 25-foot step-back with 1:35 left felt like a signature on the paperwork. Collier added 17 points, eight rebounds, four steals and the assist everyone will see forever. Natasha Howard scored 12 with two blocks and a pair of late running layups. Courtney Williams made one of eight shots and still finished plus-15 with seven assists, because sometimes the whole job is passing to the person who cannot miss.

For Dallas, Paige Bueckers was terrific and doomed: 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting with eight assists, offset by six turnovers. Aziaha James gave the Wings a season-high 19 in just 15 minutes, and Odyssey Sims scored 17. Arike Ogunbowale had five points and a minus-26, the worst number on the floor. All-Star Jessica Shepard left in the first quarter with an ankle injury and never came back, and No. 1 overall pick Azzi Fudd sat a second straight game with a knee injury, so the Wings were short on options before McBride ever got warm.

The Turning Point: Empty Trips and Expensive Math

Every McBride 3 gets the replay, but the game really swung when a two-point halftime margin became eight. Dallas turned it over 18 times on the day, and Minnesota's 12 steals helped convert those mistakes into 26 points. The Wings won the paint 44-34 and still could not stay close, because each empty trip handed the ball back to a team doing its math in threes. By the end of the third, McBride was 12 of 16 from the field, which meant Dallas was guarding a shooter and a scoreboard at the same time.

Stats That Matter

• 10 of 14 from 3: McBride's WNBA single-game record, on top of 16 of 21 overall.
• 18 of 39 as a team: The Lynx set a franchise record with 18 made 3s, per the AP.
• 54-18: Minnesota's edge in points from behind the arc, which buried that 44-34 Dallas advantage in the paint.
• 26-10: Points off turnovers, Minnesota's way, on 18 Dallas giveaways against 11 of its own.
• 29 assists on 40 baskets: Miles had 13 of them.

What It Means

Minnesota is 27-7 overall and 14-5 at home, has won 12 of 13, and holds a playoff ticket before anyone else in the league. It did this on the second end of a back-to-back, one day after beating Las Vegas 98-87, and it finished a 4-0 season sweep of Dallas. The Lynx play at Portland on Wednesday.

Dallas fell to 19-14, including 10-8 on the road. That makes three straight losses and six in the last eight, with Shepard's ankle and Fudd's knee still to sort out. The Wings host Toronto on Wednesday, and the best thing about that game is that McBride will be in Oregon.

Final Word

McBride is a 13-year veteran, and she told the broadcast she did not know what her offseason choice to return to Minnesota would turn into. "Moments like this, times like this, you realize you made the right decision," she said. Hard to argue with the receipts. Nine used to be the number that got your name on the list. Now it gets you a distant silver medal, and whoever wants 11 will need a shooter's confidence and a very forgiving rim.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Records as reported by the Associated Press and by The Athletic on WNBA.com. McBride's broadcast quotes as reported by The Athletic on WNBA.com.