Lynx visit Fever with another 25-win season in sight (Aug 30, 2017)

Published Aug. 30, 2017 12:58 a.m. ET

The Minnesota Lynx will try to lock up a 25-win season for the sixth time in the past seven years when they visit the Indiana Fever on Wednesday night.

Minnesota (24-7) already has secured one of the top two playoff seeds in the WNBA along with the Los Angeles Sparks. The Lynx have three games remaining in the regular season.

Indiana (9-23) has been eliminated from playoff contention and will try to play the role of spoiler despite entering with a six-game losing streak. The Fever have already matched a 17-year-old franchise record for losses in a season.

The season series is even at one game apiece, although each team won in much different fashion. Indiana held on for an 84-82 win on Aug. 6 on its home court. Twelve days later, as the series shifted to Minnesota, the Lynx coasted to a 111-52 victory. That marked the most lopsided contest in league history.

However, not everything has looked quite as easy for the Lynx since that matchup. Minnesota lost veteran guard Lindsay Whalen to a broken hand in early August and is 4-5 without her on the court.

Center Sylvia Fowles leads Minnesota with 19.4 points per game and 10.4 rebounds per game. Guard Maya Moore is next in scoring with 16.9 points per contest. Guard-forward Seimone Augustus (10.9 points) and forward Rebekkah Brunson (10.6 points) also are averaging in double digits.

For the Fever, veteran forward Candice Dupree leads the way with 14.9 points per game. Guard Erica Wheeler is the top scorer in the backcourt with an average of 11.5 points per game.

Wheeler is one of the few remaining healthy ballhandlers who started the season with the Fever. The team has lost guards Shenise Johnson, Tiffany Mitchell and Briann January because of injuries and recently received an emergency hardship exception to sign rookie guard Jennie Sims.

Dupree said she and her Fever teammates hope to repeat the success of their first game against the Lynx.

"I think we matched their physicality," Dupree told the team's official website. "We were aggressive. We asserted ourselves on both ends of the floor."

Fowles said the Lynx's recent recommitment to defense has been encouraging.

"I think it's been a conscious effort from us all," Fowles told the team's official website. "I think we do a very good job when we go out there and we're all on the same page."