Much of the overall performance won’t make highlight reels, but the Lynx will nonetheless take Thursday’s result, especially how it played out late.

Struggling to find consistent offensive flow, the Lynx made a late fourth-quarter surge to beat Washington 79-68 at Target Center.

It was the first game for both teams after a nearly month-long Olympic break.

A strength of this Lynx team is that when things do not go their way, Minnesota still finds a way to get it done collectively.

“We were grinding it out,” said coach Cheryl Reeve. “We had moments where we looked like ourselves.”

Defense has been a Lynx forte during the first two-thirds of the season. Minnesota has the WNBA’s best defensive rating and allows the second-fewest points on average.

“I thought we were a little rusty at the beginning of the game, but I thought we got back to it. I was really proud of how we stayed strong. It was pretty ugly, but we stayed together,” said Napheesa Collier, part of the gold-medal winning Team USA.

The Lynx finished the game on a 16-5 run.

Collier and Courtney Williams were the late-game catalysts before Kayla McBride delivered a few late daggers.

Tied at 63, Williams made a 3-pointer with 4:24 to play and the Lynx did not trail again.

“I’m just a gamer. When it’s time to win, whatever I got to do that’s what I’m going to do,” said Willilams. “It was open, so I had to take it.”

Collier scored on a short turnaround jumper, then stole the ball on the next Washington possession and scored on a layup for a seven-point lead with 2:51 left.

Collier led Minnesota with 17 points and 12 rebounds and Williams had 14 points and a team-high five assists.

“Overall, Courtney’s second half was really good. She got going and we needed her to,” Reeve said.

One of the league’s top long-range threats, McBride finished 2 for 8 but her 3-pointer with 1:36 left gave the Lynx a 73-65 lead. Minnesota, which is the best 3-point shooting team in the WNBA, finished 8 of 26.

Washington got the next three points, but a McBride steal with 42.6 seconds left sent Alanna Smith in for a fast-break layup, and with the free throw from the Australian Olympian, an eight-point Lynx lead.

McBride had a season-high four steals. Her career high is five.

Minnesota shot 40% and had just 16 assists on 28 baskets. It averages a league-best 23 helpers per game.

“We had open shots that we didn’t make, but then I also didn’t think our movement was there,” Reeve said.

Bolstered by a 14-0 run in the second quarter, Washington led 37-35 at intermission. Williams scored a pair of baskets in a 9-2 surge to start the third quarter to put the Lynx up 44-39. Washington countered with its own 9-2 run for a two-point lead, and the teams essentially traded baskets the remainder of the frame.

The game had 19 lead changes and 12 ties.

With 14 games left in the regular season, Minnesota (18-8) is in third place in the WNBA. Washington is a league-worst 6-20. The teams meet again Saturday afternoon in the nation’s capital.

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