Wynnie Sagagemord moved to Minneapolis 36 hours before the start of Game 5 of the WNBA Finals between the Minnesota Lynx and New York Liberty.
She wanted to meet other women’s sports fans in her new city and found herself at A Bar of Their Own in the Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis on Sunday night with a table full of new friends.
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Minnesota fans packed in the bar with blue and green face paint and Lynx cats ears. Fans started lining up around 3:30 p.m. to get a seat — the bar reached capacity shortly after 4 p.m.
After starting strong in the first half, the Lynx lost to the Liberty in overtime. It was the first WNBA championship title for New York. The team has made it to five other finals but lost each time.
Lynx player Kayla McBride made two free throws during overtime, leading to another possible tie, but Bridget Carleton missed a three-pointer that could have forced the teams into double overtime.
Liberty player Breanna Stewart made two free throws with 10 seconds left and secured the win.
Lynx star Napheesa Collier fouled out of the game, the first time that’s happened since May 2023. Collier scored 22 points for the game but had a better first half than second.
Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve told reporters after the game that she thought officiating was uneven, especially in the fifth game.
“What contact is legal should be the same for both teams, this isn’t that hard. And so it’s disappointing,” she said. “Congratulations to the Liberty on their first championship, how long has the league been around, 28 years, it took them 28 years, congrats to them. We were that close to our fifth, just didn’t happen.”
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McBride scored 21 points for the Lynx. She said that the loss hurt harder because of the bond the team furthered during this season.
“And saying that this is my 11th season and I get to go out there and fight with women who I consider sisters … that’s why it feels the way it does,” she said. “Because every single day we came to work and enjoyed being with each other. We enjoyed competing with each other, fighting for each other, and that’s why we’re here. That’s why we gave ourselves a chance to compete for a championship.”
Tamunoomi Alabo was searching online for watch parties nearby when she learned about A Bar of Their Own. Alabo, 20, has been an avid women’s sports fan since about 2010. She says the support women’s sports has seen this year is much overdue, but she will welcome it regardless.
“It’s really nice to know that people are seeing women for what they are — trailblazers, icons, legends — they deserve this. I just, I love to see it. I really do. It warms my heart.”
Cammie Hatfield and Simone Droge decided to buy season tickets for next year after they said they slowly became “obsessed” with the WNBA, more specifically the Lynx, this season.
“We love them, we love the team. I think the reason that we were able to push against New York in the way that we were is because, like, again, they’re star-studded there,” Droge said. “Their talent is off the charts, and ours is too, but we have a chemistry and cohesion that I don’t think that they necessarily have, and so I think that’s one of the reasons that we were able to give them the series that we did. I think this team has a really good story and a really good heart, and I want to keep following them.”
A Bar of Their Own was not the only local venue to host a watch party. The Riverview Theater in Minneapolis had over 700 guests for the game. They had to turn people away at the door.
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Kathy Weiss, a season ticket holder for the last 15 years, was at the theater and said she always knew the Lynx had the potential. She remembers going to the first few games where only a few hundred people would show up.
“It makes me really happy that people are watching women’s sports now, I feel proud of the state that I live in,” Weiss said. “When I was growing up, there wasn’t anybody for me. I played sports, but I didn’t see role models to know that I could do more with it than what I did in grade school … it’s a big deal.”
Weiss was with her friend, Molly Cook, who was also convinced to become a season ticket holder for the next season. She says she went to one game and was hooked.
As for Sagagemord, she plans to be back at the bar soon.
“It was exactly what I needed, it planted a seed and I am here for sure,” she said. “I’m honestly just such a fan of seeing women thrive and succeed and do what they love. It’s been so cool to see Minnesota get the representation that it deserves. I love it, absolutely.”
This story was originally published on MPRNews.org.
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