Lynx cruise to 80-62 victory over winless Liberty

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Seimone Augustus scored 22 points and the defending champion Minnesota Lynx cruised to a 80-62 victory over the New York Liberty on Tuesday night.

Maya Moore had 15 points, Rebekkah Brunson scored 14 and Taj McWilliams-Franklin added 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Lynx (2-0).

Cappie Pondexter scored 15 points and Essence Carson had 13, and Kia Vaughn grabbed 11 rebounds for the Liberty (0-3).

Minnesota took control with a tiebreaking 17-4 run over the last 5 minutes of the second quarter and into the start of the third.

After trailing 46-33 early in the third quarter, Nicole Powell’s 3 — attempting a pass for an alley-oop that swished in the basket instead — pulled the Liberty within eight with about 7 minutes remaining. However, the Lynx scored the next six points and took a 52-38 lead on Augustus’ free throw for a technical on Powell with 4:48 to go in the period.