Smith’s strong finish leads Lynx past Storm

Katie Smith scored 22 points to lead the Minnesota Lynx to a 73-70 victory over the Seattle Storm on Sunday night in Minneapolis.

Smith scored 15 of the last 20 points for the Lynx, who have won four straight at home and have beaten the defending WNBA champions in both matchups this season.

Kristi Harrower had 13 points and seven rebounds, while Nicole Ohlde added 12 points.

Rookie Suzie Batkovic had 12 points and Simone Edwards added 11 for Seattle, which has lost three of four. Lauren Jackson had 13 rebounds, but was held to six points on 1-of-11 shooting.

Smith played just 19 minutes because of early foul trouble. She picked up two quick ones and got her fifth just under four minutes into the second half.

With Smith resting, Seattle came back to tie the game at 47 with 9:30 left on Simone Edwards’ turnaround jumper. The Storm took their first lead two minutes later on Sue Bird’s first basket, a fast-break layup that made it 52-51 with 7:29 left.

Minnesota took an early 10-3 lead, scoring five points on free throws, as both teams opened the game shooting poorly from the field. The Lynx were 1 for 8 and the Storm 2 for 10 at the start.

The Lynx extended their lead to 26-15 at the 7:02 mark on Vanessa Hayden’s nifty post move in the lane. Seattle took a cue from Minnesota, though, and fought back by getting to the foul line. The Storm made 9 of 10 foul shots to close the half and get within 34-29.

Shock 79, Sparks 73: At Auburn Hills, Mich., Deanna Nolan had 22 points to help Detroit pull off the biggest comeback in WNBA history, rebounding from a 25-point deficit to beat Los Angeles.

Cheryl Ford added 15 points and 15 rebounds for the Shock, who trailed 35-10 in the first half. The Shock set the previous record on June 9, 2004, when they came back from 23 down to win at Indiana.

Ruth Riley, the MVP of Detroit’s 2003 WNBA Finals win over Los Angeles, added 11 points before fouling out.

Tamika Whitmore led the Sparks with 19 points, while Chamique Holdsclaw added 17 and Lisa Leslie had 16.

The Shock used a 14-0 run midway through the second half to finally take the lead. Chandi Jones’ 3-pointer with 7:27 remaining put Detroit up 63-62.

Monarchs 62, Mystics 57: At Washington, Yolanda Griffith scored her 3,000th point and DeMya Walker added a season-high 24 to help Sacramento snap Washington’s three-game winning streak.

Griffith became the eighth player in WNBA history to hit the 3,000-point milestone. She finished with 12 points and six rebounds.

Walker shot 11 for 13 from the field and had seven rebounds for the Monarchs, who never trailed despite blowing an 18-point lead in the second half.

Alana Beard led the Mystics with 15 points.