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WNBA Minnesota Lynx

Lynx Weekly Update

July 6, 2004 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Minnesota Lynx News Release


A Look Ahead

Saturday's contest vs. Detroit was Minnesota's first against an Eastern Conference opponent since dropping a 68-64 decision to New York at Target Center on May 30. The Lynx improve to 2-1 vs. the East; including Saturday's victory, and the team plays six of nine against Eastern foes to open July.

The Lynx look to extend their two-game win streak on Thursday against the Indiana Fever at Conseco Fieldhouse. Minnesota defeated Indiana in both their meetings last season (June 21, 66-58; July 26, 70-65) and improved to 3-3 all-time against the Fever. Prior to Indiana's game at Connecticut this evening, the Fever is 9-7 and tied with the Sun for first place in the East.

Minnesota returns to Target Center on Friday to kick off another three-game homestand against the Phoenix Mercury at 7:00 p.m. With each team winning on their home court, the Lynx are 1-1 against Phoenix this season and 9-10 all-time vs. the club. In the two teams' last meeting, Vanessa Hayden led the Lynx in scoring with 10 points and Diana Taurasi had a game-high 18 points. This contest will be another marquee rookie matchup with Hayden, coming off her best performance of the year on Saturday vs. Detroit (12 points, three rebounds and three blocks in 19 minutes), Nicole Ohlde and Taurasi.

The Lynx close out the week with a game against the Sacramento Monarchs on Sunday at 6:00 p.m. Minnesota's first win of the season came in Sacramento (May 22), but fell to 1-1 on the season against the Monarchs after a loss at Target Center on June 17. In their last meeting, Sacramento racked up a 27-7 edge in bench scoring, paced by a career-high-tying 12 points from Tanty Maïga and a season-high 11 from Kara Lawson. Katie Smith led all scorers with 16 points in the contest. The first 2,000 fans in attendance will receive a Lynx Backpack presented by U.S. Bank. To view the Lynx Backpack, visit http://www.wnba.com/lynx/tickets/promotions.html.

Lynx Photo Day

Lynx Photo Day presented by Proex Photo and Portrait will be on Sunday following the Lynx game vs. the Monarchs. Fans should bring their own cameras for the postgame photograph session held on Target Center's lower concourse.

Saturday Successes

Saturday's win over Detroit improved the Lynx' record to 4-0 on that day. This week Minnesota plays on Thursday, Friday and Sunday and on those days the team is 1-3, 1-1 and 0-2 respectively.

Katie's Corner

Katie Smith had her best week of the 2004 season last week (June 28 - July 4) with games against Houston and Detroit. Smith had 23 points, a season-high seven rebounds and a season-high three steals in the Lynx' 58-50 overtime win over Houston. She scored 20 points after halftime (while holding Sheryl Swoopes to just two points in that span) on Wednesday. In Saturday's victory vs. Detroit, Smith tallied a game-high 27 points (16 second-half points) and three assists. She drilled her 400th career trey in the Saturday's game and is the league's all-time leader in three-pointers made and attempted. Smith's pair of 20-point outings raises her season total to six and her career tally to 73; she moves past Cynthia Cooper into second place for most 20+ nights in WNBA history (Lisa Leslie 79).

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