The Minnesota Lynx try to end a three-game skid when they host the San Antonio Stars on Saturday night at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
Minnesota (13-3) won 13 in a row to break its own WNBA record for consecutive victories to start a season. The defending WNBA champions then fell to the Los Angeles Sparks, the Washington Mystics and the New York Liberty. The losses dropped the Lynx to second place in the Western Conference, two games behind Los Angeles.
"We've won 13 games, played at a really high level, (and) it's a very natural thing that the slippage happens," Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. "I don't necessarily sense it. I didn't feel like, 'Come on, guys, we are winning games but we have to fix this.' I think a little bit of it is not overreacting to it. We're not made of steel. ... We're human. ... I think the important thing is to make sure that you don't make excuses, you don't settle, and you know what you have to do to get back on track."
The Lynx are coming off a 95-92 overtime loss to the Liberty. Maya Moore scored 24 points for Minnesota, but it wasn't enough to overcome a 30-point performance by New York's Sugar Rodgers.
San Antonio (4-12) has lost five of its last seven games, but is coming off an 87-85 overtime victory over the Indiana Fever. Moriah Jefferson scored 31 points on 13-of-18 shooting and won the game with putback at the buzzer. Kayla McBride added 17 points despite making just 6 of 21 field-goal attempts.
Moore is fifth in the WNBA in scoring at 18.8 points per game. Teammate Sylvia Fowles is fourth in field-goal percentage at 58.8 percent.
Jefferson is fifth in 3-point shooting at 44.4 percent.
This is the first time Minnesota and San Antonio have met this season. They meet again July 12 and Sept. 11.
