Alyssa Thomas scored 16 points helped Connecticut hold off Minnesota 90-83 on Sunday in the final WNBA game for Lynx and league legend Sylvia Fowles. Fowles finished with her 192th career double-double ending with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
Fowles checked out of the game for the last time to a long standing ovation, and hugged her coaches and teammates. Fowles is the only player to lead two franchises in career rebounding and she is the only WNBA player to reach 4,000 career rebounds.
Natisha Hiedeman and Brionna Jones scored 15 points each for Connecticut. Jonquel Jones scored 12 points and Williams had 10. Connecticut was already secured the No. 3 playoff spot and will open at home against No. 6 Dallas on Thursday.
Natasha Howard scored 18 points and hit a big 3-pointer in the final minute as New York Liberty defeated Atlanta Dream 87-83 on Sunday evening. With New York leading 80-79 Howard hit a 24-footer to put the Liberty up by four with 55 seconds remaining.
The win, New York’s sixth in its past eight games, clinched a playoff spot. The Liberty (16-20) will be the seventh or eighth seed depending on the outcome of the later game between Phoenix and Chicago.
Marine Johannes scored 18 points on 6-of-8 3-point shooting for New York. Stefanie Dolson added 15 points and 12 rebounds. Rhyne Howard had 24 points and seven assists for Atlanta. Monique Billings added 15 points, Maya Caldwell 14 and Aari McDonald 11.
Chelsea Gray had 33 points, seven rebounds and nine assists and the Las Vegas Aces finished with the best record defeating Seattle 109-100 in a regular-season finale on Sunday.
Kelsey Plum, who had 23 points for the Aces, scored seven points in the final minute. Her 3-pointer with 58 seconds left put Las Vegas up by six and she added two more field goals for the Aces (26-10) to clinch the win.
Seattle’s Jewell Loyd scored a career-high 38 points that included 8 of 14 from 3-point distance. Breanna Stewart had 21 points and 15 rebounds for the Storm and Gabby Williams added 11 points.
