Augustus scores 27 and Lynx end 4-game skid with 78-67 win

Augustus scores 27 in Lynx’s 78-67 victory

MINNEAPOLIS — Seimone Augustus scored 27 points in her return to Target Center and the Minnesota Lynx snapped a four-game losing streak with a 78-67 win against the Tulsa Shock on Friday.

Candice Wiggins scored 10 points and Lindsay Whalen added 10 points and 12 assists for Minnesota (3-9), which hadn’t won since a June 1 home game against Phoenix.

Kiesha Brown scored 14 points off the bench for Tulsa (3-7). Scholanda Robinson added 13 points, but the Shock suffered their fourth straight loss.

Augustus made her first home appearance since June 12, 2009, after recovering from knee and abdominal surgeries. She missed the first nine games of the season and averaged 15 points in two road losses since returning last week.

“I just felt like I had a lot of bounce in my legs,” Augustus said. “It was a great flow, unlike the Phoenix game and the L.A. game. You could tell that plays were broken, and we were going one-on-one and not really trusting each other. Tonight, you could see that we made the extra passes and people got into their sweet spots to make shots.”

Augustus, who has averaged 21.1 points in her career, finally provided the offense Minnesota has long sought. The Lynx entered the game ninth in the 12-team league in scoring, averaging 76.8 points while shooting a league-low 38.9 percent.

Augustus shot 11 of 19, including a career-high five 3-pointers. She entered the game 3 of 14 on 3-pointers this season.

In the fourth quarter, Minnesota showed the spark many expected after a busy offseason. The Lynx used a 10-2 run early in the fourth to earn their first come-from-behind win after trailing in the final period.

They had just one turnover in the quarter and shot 8 of 18 from the floor while outscoring the Shock 22-10.

“Everybody just got into their groove,” Augustus said. “You can tell that the chemistry is coming.”

Along with Augustus, Wiggins and leading rebounder Rebekkah Brunson have also missed significant time. Finally together, the Lynx hope to build on the fourth-quarter performance.

“2-9 didn’t feel very good,” Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said. “3-9 is not great, but it’s a start. We have to get ourselves in a situation now, we can’t control the first 11 games. What’s done is done. We’re focusing now on going forward the last two-thirds of the season and really becoming an improved basketball team every day.

“This is one game. We’ve yet to have a win streak and it would be a great time for that to start to happen.”

Tulsa has played a large part in Minnesota’s offensive struggles, shutting down the Lynx in two straight matchups. Minnesota averaged 22.3 turnovers in the teams’ first three matchups. The Lynx shot only 31.6 percent on Friday, but only committed 13 turnovers.

“I was impressed that we fought through again,” Reeve said. “You know, 31 percent, that can be pretty frustrating. I thought we had some good looks. For the first time, we didn’t hang our heads about it. We got back in transition and I thought we competed hard, especially in the second half.”

The Shock committed 21 turnovers and have been outscored by an average of 20 points during their four-game skid, all on the road.

“I think our team, just like they did, they had a four-game losing streak coming into this ballgame, when you look at the type of team we have, we don’t have what I would call super, super stars on our basketball team,” Tulsa coach Nolan Richardson said. “We just have to be scrappy and hopefully get some quarters together where we’re successful.”