July 14, 2026

The Lynx Stretched the Lead to a Full Game, and the Indiana Rubber Match Is Tomorrow

Minnesota won its third straight Monday behind Kayla McBride's 37 and Olivia Miles' career-high 33 while the idle Valkyries fell from a half-game to a full game back of first. The five-game road trip ends Wednesday at Indiana on USA, where the series is tied 1-1 and Caitlin Clark is ramping up.

The idle day cost a half-game

The Valkyries did not play Monday, and it cost them. Minnesota beat Phoenix 104-100 at Target Center for its third straight win, and Golden State slid from half a game back to a full game behind the Lynx (18-6) in the loss column. Las Vegas (17-7) sat idle too and stays tied with the Valkyries for second, but the Aces are now frozen until July 20 at Toronto, an eight-day gap that hands Golden State a cushion-building window.

Kayla McBride scored 37 on 11-for-17 shooting (6 of 11 from three) with six rebounds, four steals, and two blocks, her best total in a Lynx uniform and one off her career high. It was her fifth straight game leading the team in scoring. Olivia Miles, on a "SLAM Night" honoring her SLAM magazine cover, dropped a career-high 33 on 10-for-16 shooting, hit three threes early in the fourth to erase a 75-69 deficit, then found McBride for the corner three that made it 101-98 with 43 seconds left. Natasha Howard's layup off Miles' seventh assist sealed it. Phoenix (8-17, fourth straight loss) got 26 from Kahleah Copper and 19 points with 12 assists from Alyssa Thomas, led after three quarters, and still lost. Minnesota is doing this without Napheesa Collier, who has missed the whole season, and lost Dorka Juhász to a right knee scare Monday night.

So the standings-race picture the Valkyries woke up to, with the idle day working against them again: Minnesota 18-6 (.750) alone in first and on a three-game run, Las Vegas 17-7 (.708) idle and one game back, Golden State 17-7 (.708) idle since Friday and now a full game back, Dallas 16-8 (.667) fourth on its own five-game win streak. The Valkyries still hold the league's longest active streak at seven, and the stingiest defense in the W at 76.2 points allowed.

Tomorrow closes the trip: at Indiana, on USA

Wednesday is the whole road trip in one night. Golden State at Indiana, 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT, USA Network nationally plus KPIX+ in the Bay Area and the Audacy app. It is the rubber match of a split series (Indiana won 90-82 at home on May 22; the Valkyries took 90-88 at Chase Center on May 28 behind Veronica Burton's 25 points, six rebounds, and a career-best five blocks), and a win makes it 5-0 on the trip and eight in a row.

It is also the league's best defense against its hottest offense, the collision that sets up Wednesday: a Fever team coming off 109 points in Las Vegas against a Valkyries unit allowing a league-low 76.2. The new variable is Caitlin Clark's minutes. She played 16 in her July 8 return, sat the back-to-back July 9, then got 25 on July 12 with the Fever scrapping the three-minute-burst pattern she called "really hard to get into a flow." With a full week off and no back-to-back before Wednesday, another step up in her workload is the logical next increment. Aliyah Boston is healthy, having played July 9 and July 12.

Status

Gabby Williams (back contusion, the hard July 8 fall in Toronto) remains day-to-day with no new update; Wednesday's status is still TBD. The lead scorer and only All-Star starter has missed one game, and Burton's 17 and six assists starting in her place is how the roster has absorbed it. Burton's All-Star replacement case now runs through Kelsey Plum, who missed her sixth straight game Monday and is not due for reevaluation until late July. Wilson and Miles returning closed the other two doors.

Tracking

Atlanta beat Los Angeles 101-92 Monday behind Angel Reese's WNBA-leading 16th double-double (23 and 13), Allisha Gray's 20, and a 9-0 fourth-quarter run. The Dream are 14-10; the Sparks fell to 10-12, losing a sixth straight without Plum and an eighth straight without Cameron Brink (left ankle). The only game tonight is Washington (11-10) at Toronto (10-13), 7 p.m. ET on NBATV, a free look at the Mystics before they visit Chase Center next Saturday and Monday. And with the Aces dark until July 20, the standings will not move in Las Vegas until after Golden State has played Indiana and twice hosted Washington. That is the window.

Win in Indianapolis on Wednesday and the Valkyries carry an eight-game streak and a 5-0 road trip into a home back-to-back, with the team a full game ahead of them idle the whole time.