• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Augustus helps Lynx beat Silver Stars

Aug 11, 2010 - 3:42 AM SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- Seimone Augustus scored 20 points and the Minnesota Lynx beat the San Antonio Silver Stars 73-66 on Tuesday night to improve their playoff positioning.

Rebekkah Brunson had 12 points, all in the first half, and 12 rebounds for Minnesota (11-17), which never could pull away but had an answer for every Silver Stars rally. The Lynx moved into third in the Western Conference, a half-game ahead of San Antonio (11-18).

Augustus scored eight points in the fourth quarter as the Lynx evened the season series at two games apiece ahead of their final scheduled meeting Sunday in Minnesota.

"The ball was in my hands always in the late shot-clock situations, and you've got to make something happen," Augustus said. "We looked at it as a playoff game.

"We knew that it was going to be a game of runs. It was just a matter of who was going to be consistent and execute at the end of the game."

Sophia Young scored 19 points for San Antonio, including two 3-pointers that helped the Silver Stars cut it to 70-66 with 36.1 seconds left.

Lindsay Whalen hit one of two free-throw attempts with 33 seconds remaining, and Young airballed a 3-point try on the other end to effectively end San Antonio's final threat. Augustus closed out the scoring by hitting two free throws with 24.5 seconds left.

"At this point, every game is a must-win for us, so it feels good," Brunson said. "We were hungry. We knew we had to come in here and win this game, and rebounding was key. We couldn't give them a lot of second-chance points. We crashed hard and it worked out for us."

Chamique Holdsclaw had 17 points for San Antonio, which made four of 22 3-point attempts and went 8-for-15 from the free-throw line.

"I don't think we came with a sense of urgency the first 20 minutes of the game," Silver Stars coach Sandy Brondello said. "We got there in the second half, but we can't take any lapses, particularly in the stage of the season we're in. We're fighting for that playoff, and this is one of the teams we're fighting."

Augustus and Brunson combined for 13 points in the second period, helping Minnesota build a 43-35 halftime lead.