Sun vs. Lynx: Griner's Season-High 29 Stalls Cheryl Reeve's WNBA Regular-Season Wins Record in 90-89 Win

Target Center had the whole thing teed up. Cheryl Reeve needed one more win to stand alone as the WNBA's all-time leader in regular-season coaching wins, Minnesota was sitting at 15-5, and the team in the other jersey had won exactly four games all season. Then Connecticut showed up to the coronation, ate the cake and left with the centerpiece.

Monday night's 90-89 Connecticut Sun win over the Minnesota Lynx ran through a season-high 29 points and 10 rebounds from Brittney Griner, plus two enormous late threes from Kennedy Burke. Courtney Williams hit a 23-footer with 0.8 seconds left to make the final margin look closer than it felt, and Reeve's second crack at passing Mike Thibault ended with both coaches still tied at 379.

Connecticut Spent All Night in Front

This wasn't a smash-and-grab where an underdog got hot at the very end. The Sun led 25-22 after one, 48-44 at the half and 70-66 after three, with Griner already at 13 by the break. Connecticut held the lead for most of the night, stretching it to as many as nine, while Minnesota kept looking up and waiting for the big run that good teams eventually produce.

That run finally came late in the third. Trailing 62-55 with a little more than three minutes left in the quarter, the Lynx scored nine straight to go up 64-62, and that two-point edge was the biggest lead they'd have all night. It lasted about as long as a Minnesota summer. Connecticut closed the frame by recapturing a four-point cushion, and the fourth turned into a heavyweight staring contest.

The Sun would go up, the Lynx would chop it down. Burke's 2-footer made it 77-72, Antonia Delaere's three made it 77-75. Burke's first big three, with 2:53 left, made it 82-77. Griner's shot in the lane made it 84-79. And then, finally, Minnesota caught them. Kayla McBride converted a three-point play with 1:30 to go, and Natasha Howard hit two free throws with 54.1 seconds left to tie it at 84.

Griner Was the Best Player on the Floor

Griner's night deserves more than a passing mention, because it was absurdly efficient. She went 11 of 14 from the field and 7 of 11 at the line in 34 minutes, with three assists, two steals and two blocks to go with those 10 boards. She finished plus-13, the best mark on either team. The Sun's game notes say it was her second straight double-double, the first time she's strung two together since 2023, and that her last 20-point game also came against the Lynx, back in 2025.

Burke was the other half of the story. Off the bench, she scored 16 in 23 minutes on 6-of-8 shooting and 3 of 4 from deep. Leila Lacan added 13 points and four steals, Olivia Nelson-Ododa had 10 points and eight rebounds, and Charlisse Leger-Walker handed out five assists. Former Lynx forward Diamond Miller only scored five, but she'll sleep fine, because her block in the final minute may have been the defensive play of the game.

On the other side, McBride scored 28 on 10-of-19 shooting with four threes, though her six turnovers stung. Williams nearly matched her, with 23 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Howard scored 18 despite picking up five fouls. Minnesota played this one without Napheesa Collier and Olivia Miles, and Dorka Juhasz, making her season debut, went 1 of 7 for three points in 25 minutes. It's not hard to see where the missing shot-making might have helped.

Forty-Five Seconds From Disaster, Connecticut Found Burke

Tie game. Under a minute left. A crowd of 10,810 had just gotten its energy back, and the history was right there. This is usually where a 4-16 team folds.

Instead, Lacan found Burke at the top of the key with less than 45 seconds on the clock, and she drained her second late three to make it 87-84. Miller then came up with that block. Griner then finished a layup off a Leger-Walker feed with 18.2 seconds left for an 89-84 lead, and that was basically that.

Basically. Howard scored with 6.0 seconds left, Miller made one of two free throws at 5.3, and Williams's long three with 0.8 left cut it to one. That's a scary-looking final sequence for a team that went 17 of 29 at the line, with Nelson-Ododa alone missing six of her eight tries. The Sun very nearly left this one at the stripe. They just got enough stops to make sure it didn't matter.

Stats That Matter

• 11 of 14: Griner from the field, on a night when the Lynx simply had no answer for her.
• 42-30: Connecticut's edge in paint points.
• 17 of 29: The Sun at the line, against 17 of 19 for the Lynx. A dozen misses nearly cost them.
• 10 of 30: Minnesota from three, compared with 7 of 15 for Connecticut. The Lynx took twice as many and made only three more.
• 11-5: Steals, in favor of the Sun.

What It Means

Connecticut moves to 5-16 and picks up its second road win of the season, in the first of back-to-back meetings with Minnesota. The teams meet again on Wednesday in Connecticut.

Minnesota falls to 15-6 and 6-4 at home. It's the first time all season the Lynx have lost two in a row, following Friday's defeat in New York, and that's a remarkable stat for a team this banged up. It also means Reeve remains stuck at 379, level with Thibault. The record isn't going anywhere, and she'll get her next chance on Wednesday.

Wedding Crashers

No one should feel too bad for Reeve here. She's going to get this record, probably very soon, and the Lynx are still one of the best teams in the league. But it would be hard to script a stranger detour on the road to history: a coach waiting on her big moment, a full arena ready to celebrate, and a 4-16 team walking in uninvited and taking the whole party with it. Connecticut hadn't won much of anything this year. On Monday, the Sun got to be the wedding crashers, and they ate very well.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details as reported by the Associated Press. Team notes from the Connecticut Sun's game recap.