Lynx retire No. 32 on same night Aerial Powers scores 32

The Minnesota Lynx honored Rebekkah Brunson in a big way on Sunday, first by retiring her jersey and then by beating the Las Vegas Aces 102-71 behind Aerial Powers’ career performance.

The first and only player to win five WNBA championships, Brunson earned all but one of them with the Lynx after joining the team in 2010. The forward was also a member of every single championship-winning team in Minnesota. On Sunday, she joined teammates Lindsay Whalen and Seimone Augustus as the only Lynx players to have their jerseys retired as her No. 32 was raised into the rafters.

In the rafters forever! Rebekkah Brunson has her No. 32 retired at Target Center!#CantTameUs pic.twitter.com/aNDtMvZLBn

— Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) July 4, 2022

As part of the ceremony, the Lynx showed a video including interviews from those who had a front-row seat to Brunson’s career

“she’s Superwoman - she does it all!” pic.twitter.com/xXGbsfmYOM

— Minnesota Lynx (@minnesotalynx) July 4, 2022

With Brunson, a Lynx assistant coach, watching from the bench, Minnesota tallied a season-high 102 points against the Aces for just their second 100-plus point game of the year.

The Lynx also tied a franchise record with 53 rebounds — set on Tuesday, also against the Aces — and became just the second team in the WNBA to record 53-plus rebounds in more than one game during the season. Minnesota’s 67.9 percent rebounding advantage on Sunday was the second-best in franchise history. The team also grabbed 97.4 percent of defensive rebounds, the best in team history and fifth-best in WNBA history.

Six Lynx players had more than five rebounds, led by Sylvia Fowles’s 11 boards to go along with eight points and two blocked shots. Damiris Dantas had nine rebounds, and Jessica Shepard added eight.

Powers led the Lynx on offense, scoring a career-high 32 points and adding six rebounds and four assists to punctuate the celebration.

“AP said she was gonna get me 32 points, and she got me 32 points,” Brunson said during the postgame ceremony.

Jackie Young, A’ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum all finished in double digits for the second-place Aces, with Plum’s 12 points leading the way.