LOS ANGELES _ The WNBA trophy was hiding out backstage, just in case. Confetti was loaded.
Just in case.
Well, everyone will have to wait a little longer. Leading nearly start to finish, repelling every Los Angeles Sparks run, the Minnesota Lynx, the Staples Center court, persevered.
The score: Minnesota 80-69.
And, as a result, the WNBA Finals, for the second year in a row, will be decided in a take-all Game 5 in Minnesota, at Williams Arena on Wednesday night. Now the Lynx, who won when they had to on the road, will try to win at home to erase the memory of last year's last-second loss to the Sparks on the Target Center floor.
Rebekkah Brunson scored 18 points with 13 rebounds, the biggest coming late, after a missed Lindsay Whalen there-pointer, that set Maya Moore for the game-clinching three-point play with 1 minute and 45 seconds left, putting the Lynx up 12.
Center Sylvia Fowles scored 22 points with 14 rebounds. Maya Moore had 15 points and Seimone Augustus had 10 points. The Sparks were led by Odyssey Sims (18), Nneka Ogumike (17) and Candace Parker (11).
The Lynx took the lead for good with an 11-0 first quarter run, and repelled every Sparks rally the rest of the way.
The biggest came after Ogwumike had scored to make it an eight-point game.
At the other end Whalen missed a three, but Brunson soared for the rebound, got the ball to Moore, who scored, was fouled and hit the free throw.
Game.
It looked like the Lynx were headed towards another slow offensive start, and then they had finally found their way to a run.
With Montgomery providing the spark off the bench the Lynx, down 10-8, scored 11 straight to take a 19-10 lead on Montgomery's three-pointer. She and Augustus hit threes in the run, Brunson had a three-point play _ one that gave the Lynx their first lead since Game 2 _ and Fowles scored.
Unfortunately the Lynx couldn't build on it because of turnovers, six total in the quarter, which were turned into six points by Los Angeles, including the final two on Alana Beard's buzzer-beating layup that cut Minnesota's lead to 21-16.
Minnesota kept it going with a 9-2 run to start the second quarter, banging the offensive glass to get all nine of those points in second-chance situations, giving them a 30-18 lead with 6:57 left in the half on Brunson's layup.
After Parker made one of two free throws the Lynx went on a 5-1 run to take a 35-19 lead on Alexis Jones' 3-pointer.
But the Sparks roared back. Parker hit two free throws, Sims hit a 3-pointer and the Sparks turned a botched Lynx possession into Parker's fast-break layup to cut the Lynx lead to nine with 2:30 left in the half.
It was still at nine late in the half when Lindsay Whalen's 3-pointer _ her first points since Game 2 _ pushed the lead to 43-31 at the half, which ended with the Sparks shooting 35.5 percent to the Lynx's 42.9.
In the third quarter the game got my physical, chippie and way more sloppy, with the Lynx and Sparks combining for nine turnovers.
But the Lynx gave no quarter.
Fowles scored eight points in the third, including the first two baskets of the quarter, which pushed the Lynx lead to 16.
With the Sparks struggling to make shots, tat lead grew as big as 19. It was still at 17.
