Augustus' late free throws costly to Sky

Watching Seimone Augustus hit free throws to ice a game used to be fun for Sylvia Fowles.

Thursday night, in front of 3,014 at the UIC Pavilion, it was torture.

Because this time, Augustus and Fowles weren't on the same team, and those free throws with 21.2 seconds left keyed a 75-69 victory by the Minnesota Lynx over Fowles and the Chicago Sky.

"I didn't like seeing that at all," said Fowles, the Sky's 6-foot-6 rookie center.

The Sky dropped to 1-2 on the season, while the Lynx stayed perfect at 3-0.

Augustus and Fowles are longtime pals who used to be teammates at LSU. The two played together in Baton Rouge for two years and led the Tigers to the Women's Final Four each year.

Along with another LSU product, Sky rookie guard Quianna Chaney, LSU got to a total of five Final Fours.

"It's amazing that we're not playing on the same team anymore," said Augustus, the 2006 WNBA rookie of the year. "To go against (Fowles) now, it's the intimidation factor. I'm not used to seeing a 6-foot-6 player who can get up off the floor like she can. I had to put my little floater into effect."

And it was … effective.

Augustus scored a game-high 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field. She also pulled down a team-high 9 rebounds and had 3 steals.

"It was good to see her face, but then again, you know what she's capable of," said Fowles, who was set to take Augustus out for dinner after the game -- not because she was on the losing end but because she and Augustus agreed the hometown player always would pick up the tab. "You can't stop Seimone. All you can do is try to slow her down."

Before Augustus hit those clutch free throws, Lynx guard Candice Wiggins, a rookie from Stanford, made up for a turnover on the trip before by nailing a huge 3-pointer that broke a 68-68 tie.

That put the Lynx up 71-68 with 32.2 seconds left.

Fowles, who had a team-high 16 points, gave the Sky hope by converting a 3-point play on the next possession, but the Sky needed to foul to stop the clock and that's when Augustus came up big at the line.

"Sylvia's doing a great job out there, but we're still learning how to play with her," Sky coach Steve Key said. "She's such a force out there. She takes up so much space. We're just not ready to pass her the ball sometimes, and we need to take advantage of those opportunities."