Napheesa Collier is putting her name among the best in the league while leading the Minnesota Lynx back from the bottom of the WNBA standings.
Collier scored at least 30 points for the third time in four games to lead Minnesota to a fourth straight victory, 90-83 Wednesday night over the Indiana Fever. The 26-year-old, who missed the majority of last season after giving birth to her first child, finished with 32 points and eight rebounds.
Her performance came shortly after being named the Western Conference Player of the Week, having scored 80 points in three games, including 34- and 31-point efforts in back-to-back wins over Seattle.
Collier is third in the WNBA in scoring (22.6 points per game) and 11th in rebounding (7.8 rebounds per game). The only other player in the WNBA averaging at least 20 points and seven rebounds per game is New York’s Breanna Stewart, who is averaging 23.3 points and 9.9 rebounds.
The Lynx have been on a roll since starting the season with six straight losses. They’ve won eight of the last 11 and are now 8-9 overall with a chance to get back to .500 when they host Phoenix on Friday night.
Minnesota enters Thursday’s action in a three-way tie with Chicago and Dallas for the sixth, seventh and eighth in the WNBA. But they’re just a half-game behind Atlanta (8-8) for fifth and 1.5 games behind Washington (9-7) for fourth.
They should be Phoenix (league worst 3-13 record), which would set the stage for the ultimate test when the Lynx host the Las Vegas Aces at Target Center on Sunday. The Aces are 16-1 and outscoring opponents by an average of 15 points per game.
