Young's Late FTs Lift Silver Stars Past Lynx

For two teams with losing records playing in July, there was a lot of talk about the playoffs.

And in what could end up being a first-round preview, Sophia Young's two free throws with 3.8 seconds to play lifted the San Antonio Silver Stars to a 74-72 win over the Minnesota Lynx on Thursday night.

Chamique Holdsclaw led San Antonio with 17 points, while Becky Hammon and Roneeka Hodges each had 14. The Silver Stars (8-13) won just their third road game of the season and moved a half-game ahead of the Lynx (7-13) for third place in the woeful Western Conference, one game behind second-place Phoenix.

"We're battling for a playoff spot," said San Antonio coach Sandy Brondello, whose team trails West-leading Seattle by 10 games. "We've both played Seattle in the past week and both had opportunities to win, so we know that we're there with the best teams in the league."

Seimone Augustus scored 22 points to lead the Lynx, who lost their second straight.

"We had a lot of layup opportunities that we missed," Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said, after her team saw a double-digit lead in the third quarter slip away. "Disappointing game. For the magnitude of the game, every game is so big. For us to let one get away, it hurts."

Augustus, who was coming off a disastrous 4-for-17 shooting performance in Saturday's loss to conference-leading Seattle, hit a pair of shots in the final 1:10 to tie the score at 72-all.

However, Rebekkah Brunson fouled Young en route to the basket in the final seconds, setting up the winning free throws. Augustus had a shot to tie at the buzzer, but the ball clanked off the rim.

"In the end they executed a little bit better than we did, and that's a disappointment," Augustus said.

Minnesota emerged with a 40-35 lead at halftime, after an opening 20 minutes that featured 10 lead changes. Down 8-0 less than 2 minutes into the game, the Silver Stars went on a 12-0 run to take their first lead and hit six 3-pointers in the half. Holdsclaw hit two of them, and led San Antonio with 10 points at the break.

"Our backs are against the wall a little bit in the West, so to get a road win against a team like this is huge," said Holdsclaw, who team had lost by 23 at Minnesota two weeks ago. "

Her effort was matched by Nicky Anosike, who had 10 in the first half for Minnesota.

San Antonio, which had lost four of its previous five games, held Minnesota's Lindsey Whalen to just four points. Whalen had been averaging more than 14 per game.

"We go up one and they go down one, so conference games are especially big," said Hammon. "We want to make sure if it comes to that, that we have the home-court advantage in the first round."

Brunson led all rebounders with 14, as she and Anosike both recorded double-doubles.