Detroit Lakes , MN (KDLM) – Cheryl Reeve made WNBA history Wednesday night, picking up the 380th win of her coaching career as the Minnesota Lynx beat the Connecticut Sun 86-80 at Mohegan Sun Arena, officially making her the winningest head coach in league history.
The win pushed Reeve past former Connecticut and Washington coach Mike Thibault, whose regular-season wins record had stood since 2022, when Reeve set the league record with her 380th victory, surpassing Thibault’s mark of 379. Reeve tied Thibault’s total with a win at Dallas on June 28th, then watched the Lynx drop back-to-back games before finally breaking the tie in Uncasville.
Kayla McBride led all scorers Wednesday with 23 points, going six-of-10 from the field and nine-for-nine at the free-throw line, with four rebounds, four assists and two steals. Minnesota trailed by as many as eight points in the first half before outscoring Connecticut 26-15 in the fourth quarter to pull away. Dorka Juhasz added 12 points on four-of-six shooting from three-point range, Natasha Howard posted a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Courtney Williams had 12 points and seven assists. As a team, Minnesota shot 46.7% from the field and 45.5% from three-point range.
Leila Lacan led Connecticut with 15 points, followed by Olivia Nelson-Ododa with 14 and Diamond Miller with 13.
Reeve, hired by the Lynx in 2010, has led the franchise to all four of its WNBA titles, in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017. She is a four-time WNBA coach of the year and is already the league’s all-time winningest postseason coach as well. She was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame on June 27th in Knoxville, Tennessee, becoming just the second WNBA coach so honored. She also coached the Team USA women’s basketball team to a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Minnesota, now 16-6 on the season and atop the WNBA standings, returns home to host the New York Liberty on Saturday, July 11th at 12:00 p.m. at Target Center.
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