MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Lynx soared last season past the consensus external expectations for their ceiling, surging into the WNBA Finals where they suffered an oh-so-close loss in the winner-take-all fifth game.

This year, they’ve been the clear team to beat.

After cruising to the No. 1 seed with a franchise-record 34 wins, the Lynx used a fierce rally from a 17-point deficit in the third quarter to beat the Golden State Valkyries on Thursday and post the only first-round sweep of these playoffs.

They’ll host Game 1 of their semifinal series on Sunday, facing a stacked Phoenix Mercury team that’s in a roughly similar situation as the Lynx were last year. With plenty of collective experience in the postseason but none before with this current group, the No. 4 seed Mercury st

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