MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -Seimone Augustus scored 21 points and had nine assists, and the Minnesota Lynx put an end to a few dubious streaks with a 91-69 victory over the New York Liberty on Tuesday.
The Lynx snapped a five-game losing streak after starting the season 5-1 and ended a six-game losing streak against New York, dating back to 2005. Minnesota had also lost seven straight to the Liberty at Target Center, with its only previous victory at home against New York coming July 17, 1999.
Center Nicole Ohlde hit her first six shots from the floor and scored 14 points, and helped hold former University of Minnesota star Janel McCarville to 2-for-7 shooting.
``We wanted to get back on the winning track,'' Ohlde said. ``We knew this one would be important because we need to win at home, we needed to pay New York back for getting us in New York. We just needed to get that off our back and hopefully we can string some wins together.''
The Lynx led by as many as 16 points in the first half with Ohlde scoring 10 of her points in the first two quarters.
``We hope that's something she can build off of,'' Minnesota coach Don Zierden said. ``We need that, we desperately need somebody to score for us in the post and tonight she did a nice job.''
Anna DeForge surpassed 300 3-pointers made in her career en route to 13 points and rookie Candice Wiggins added 15 points for the Lynx.
Shameka Christon scored 20 for the Liberty, but fouled out with 4:59 left and New York trailing by 10. Ashley Battle chipped in 17 points, but second-leading scorer and former University of Minnesota star Janel McCarville shot just 2-for-7 for four points and grabbed seven rebounds.
The Lynx took an eight-point halftime lead, then never let New York closer than eight in the final two quarters.
After Tiffany Jackson scored four straight points to cut the deficit to 10 points for the Liberty with 5:09 left, Minnesota went on a 12-1 run to put the Liberty away.
``We didn't execute the way we needed to execute,'' Liberty coach Pat Doyle said. ``But I give them a lot of credit. Defensively they did a good job, took us out of our stuff.''
The setback came just two days after setting a franchise high in points (105) and rebounds (46) and a WNBA record for bench points (62) at home against Phoenix. The Liberty fell to 1-4 on the road this season.
The Lynx raced out to a 28-14 advantage through the first quarter, shooting 61.1 percent in the period while holding the Liberty to 28.6 percent from the floor. The Lynx upped the advantage to 16 early in the second quarter, but New York chipped away and ended the half on a 9-2 run to cut the deficit to 45-37.
