Before her team’s season opener Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve spoke about the “great challenge” in facing a Seattle team she believes will be a top three team in the WNBA this season.

“I like the opportunity to be really thrown into the fire and see us get hit with some adversity because that will happen tonight,” Reeve said.

Reeve had to like what she saw.

Napheesa Collier finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds and Minnesota pulled away late to beat Seattle 83-70 Tuesday in the Emerald City.

The two teams meet again in Minnesota’s home opener Friday at 8:30 p.m.

Collier’s stat line is to be expected of one of the league’s top players, but a couple of Lynx newcomers quickly made their presence known.­­

Alanna Smith scored a career-high 22 points, and Courtney Williams added 14 points, seven assists and five steals, one off her career high.

Minnesota had 15 steals and eight blocks. It shot 45.3% from the field.

“There were some shots that we missed that we should have made. But I think we stayed really consistent, consistent in our emotions,” Smith said on the team’s radio postgame.

Smith, a 6-foot-4 free-agent signee, is expected to provide some more offensive versatility from the post. She made three of her four shots from outside the arc, an area where Minnesota finished 7 of 23 as a team. Solid around the rim, Smith grabbed eight rebounds and had four blocks.

Minnesota outscored Seattle 20-10 in the final quarter.

Collier’s 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter gave Minnesota a 70-62 lead. After a block by Cecilia Zandalasini, Collier drained a jumper at the other end, and added a layup less than a minute later to cap a 25-8 Minnesota spurt and provide a 12-point cushion.

A long jumper by Williams and 3-pointer was followed by a trey from Kayla McBride and the Lynx were up 79-64 with 4:13 left.

“We’ve got a lot of weapons and I think it’s gonna be anyone’s night throughout this season,” Smith said.

Down by eight points early in the second quarter, Minnesota scored the final seven points of the first half for a 45-44 lead. The final from a trio of guards that could very well see some significant court time together this season.

Natisha Hiedeman forced a turnover with 17 seconds left, Williams missed a layup, but McBride followed for a tip.

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