With less than a month left in the WNBA regular season, the Minnesota Lynx have a firm lock on the top seed in the playoffs.

The Liberty felt Tuesday night was a perfect opportunity to send a message — a 85-75 victory while shorthanded to avoid a regular-season sweep.

Thus ends the series of Finals rematches between the Liberty and Lynx, who played to a five-game thriller last fall in what became New York's first postseason championship run. None of the four games featured Liberty star Breanna Stewart while her fellow UConn alum and Unrivaled co-founder Napheesa Collier missed the latter three.

This affiliate content is not influenced by our advertising relationships, but AP and Data Skrive might earn commissions from our partners’ links in this content.

Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve explained disparaging comments one of her star players made about the New York Liberty.

As the clock ticked under two minutes to play in Saturday's WNBA Finals rematch, the Minnesota Lynx trailed the New York Liberty by one and needed someone to make a play. Courtney Williams, never afraid of the moment,