Lynx fall just short after Napheesa Collier leads them to the brink of a fifth WNBA title

NEW YORK (AP) — Napheesa Collier and the Minnesota Lynx, who both had No. 2 finishes in the regular season, were on the verge of being No. 1 when it mattered most.

The Lynx were seconds away from a record fifth WNBA championship with perhaps a WNBA Finals MVP award waiting for Collier, whose flurry late in regulation had her team in the lead in the final minute.

They couldn't hold on.

The New York Liberty rallied for a 67-62 victory in overtime, denying the Lynx what would have been a WNBA-record fifth championship.

Collier, the runner-up to unanimous MVP A'ja Wilson in the regular season, scored 22 points before having to watch the final seconds from the bench after fouling out of a game Minnesota seemed poised to win just a few minutes earlier.

Like coach Cheryl Reeve, who said the game was “stolen” from the Lynx, she was frustrated with officiating and felt she was being held on some occasions, though credited the Liberty for making adjustments.

“They turned up the pressure,” she said. “It’s the end of the game. Of course we are both trying to win. They turned up the pressure, and we got a couple turnovers.”

The Lynx controlled the first half but had fallen into a 56-52 hole on Sabrina Ionescu’s 3-pointer with 3:10 remaining. Then Collier, who started strong, got going again. She had Minnesota’s next three baskets, with her drive past Breanna Stewart giving the Lynx a 60-58 edge with 1:04 to go.

“Obviously the exclamation point to the incredible season that she had,” Reeve said. “You know, Napheesa showed up big time for this team. Put us in a position to be within seconds of a championship. Phee was phenomenal.”

But Minnesota wouldn't score again until New York had scored the next seven points, tying it on Stewart's free throws with 5.2 seconds left and going ahead 65-60 in the extra period.

Collier finished with seven rebounds, two blocks and a steal. The WNBA's Defensive Player of the Year played all but 35 seconds of the 45-minute game, and most of what she missed is because she committed the foul to stop the clock with 13 seconds remaining in OT.

It was clearly a fantastic season for the forward, who averaged 20.4 points and 9.7 rebounds in her sixth year out of UConn. She also won a gold medal with the U.S. Olympic team and helped the Lynx notch a franchise-record 30 wins and earn the No. 2 seed.

But if Game 5 plays out differently, she might have also picked up a WNBA Finals MVP trophy, joining the elite Lynx players from the past to have done so.

Sylvia Fowles won it in 2015 and 2017 after their last two championships. Seimone Augustus, enshrined last week in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, was the winner in 2011 and Maya Moore two years later.

The Lynx believe similar accolades could be on the way for Collier.

“We just have so much confidence in who she is on and off the court, and I’m lucky to be alongside of her. I’m just in awe,” said Kayla McBride, who scored 21 points. “She’s had an amazing season and amazing postseason obviously. Can’t wait to see what she does in the future.”

AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu (20) battles for a rebound against Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier (24) during the fourth quarter of Game 5 of the WNBA basketball final series, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier (24) is stripped of the ball by New York Liberty forward Leonie Fiebich (13) and forward Breanna Stewart (30) during the third quarter of Game 5 of the WNBA basketball final series, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Democrat Kamala Harris is out to win over suburban voters uneasy about Republican Donald Trump as she touches down in three Midwestern battleground states on Monday to hold moderated conversations with Republican Liz Cheney.

The vice president will make appearances in three suburban counties won by Republican Nikki Haley before she dropped out of the race for the GOP nomination: Chester County, Pennsylvania; Oakland County, Michigan; and Waukesha County, Wisconsin.

Harris' travel companion, Cheney, is a former GOP congresswoman from Wyoming and a fierce critic of Trump. Their conversations will be moderated by a conservative radio host and a GOP strategist.

With just over two weeks to go before the presidential election and the race a dead heat, the Democratic nominee is looking for support from every possible voter. Her campaign is hoping to persuade those who haven’t made up their minds, mobilize any Democrats considering sitting this one out, and pick off voters in areas where support for Trump may be fading.

A few votes here and there could add up to an overall win. In Waukesha County, for example, Haley won more than 9,000 primary votes even after she dropped out of the race. Overall, Wisconsin was decided for President Joe Biden in 2020 by just 20,000 votes. In-person early voting in the state starts Tuesday.

Cheney and Harris will be joined at the events by Charles Sykes, a conservative radio host and editor-in-chief of the website The Bulwark, and GOP strategist Sarah Longwell.

Cheney has endorsed Harris because of her concerns about Trump. She lost her House seat after she co-chaired a congressional committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. That's when a violent mob of Trump supporters broke into the building and beat and bloodied law enforcement in a failed effort to stop the certification of Biden's 2020 presidential win.

Cheney is not the only Republican to back Harris. More than 100 former GOP officeholders and officials joined Harris last week in Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania, not far from where Gen. George Washington led hundreds of troops across the Delaware River to a major victory in the Revolutionary War.

At a rally there, she told GOP voters the patriotic choice was to vote for the Democrats.

As the election draws near, the vice president has increasingly focused on Trump's lies around the 2020 election and his role in the violent mob's failed efforts. She says Trump is “unstable” and “unhinged” and would eviscerate democratic norms if given a second White House term.

“I do believe that Donald Trump is an unserious man,” she says at her rallies, "and the consequences of him ever getting back into the White House are brutally serious.”

Trump has been trying to minimize the violent Jan. 6 confrontation as he campaigns, claiming it was "a day of love from the standpoint of the millions.”

Harris will be back in Pennsylvania on Wednesday for a CNN town hall in Delaware County, where she will take voter questions.

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a church service and early vote event at Divine Faith Ministries International, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, in Jonesboro, Ga. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)