A best-of-five series has become a best-of-three.

Courtney Williams overcame a slow start with a dominating third quarter and hit a clutch late jumper, and the Minnesota Lynx evened their WNBA semifinal series with a 77-70 win over Connecticut in a physical Game 2 on Tuesday night at Target Center.

Williams finished with 17 points, five rebounds and four assists. Alanna Smith finished with 15 points, including a trio of treys, and six rebounds.

The next two games are in Connecticut: 6:30 p.m. Friday and a yet-to-be-announced time Sunday. A deciding Game 5, if needed, would be Tuesday night at Target Center.

“We need to stay aggressive. It’s going to be a long series. We got to grind it out,” Napheesa Collier said in an in-arena interview. She finished just 3 of 14 from the field for nine points but grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.

A battle of the WNBA’s two best defensive teams included plenty of looks from players on both teams glaring at officials and questioning no-calls, and second-quarter pushing between Myisha Hines-Allen and Marina Mabrey.

Kayla McBride earned a technical for shoving Mabrey after the latter appeared to foul the Lynx guard on a layup. McBride also had a hard foul on DiJonai Carrington on a fourth-quarter drive.

“It’s playoffs, it’s always going to be physical,” said Sun forward DeWanna Bonner.

Williams, Minnesota’s point guard who was just 3 for 12 from the field in the 73-70 Game 1 loss Sunday and missed five of her first six first-half shots, made all three of her third-quarter attempts and added a couple of her four assists to provide some breathing room.

She scored on a jumper, Smith sank a 3-pointer and McBride added a layup to start the second half for a 43-30 Lynx lead. Williams then scored nine straight Lynx points, including a pullup jumper and a 3-pointer as the Minnesota lead grew to 56-42.

Four players other than Williams scored in an 8-2 fourth-quarter start that pushed the Lynx lead to 15 with 7:10 remaining.

Connecticut got within seven with 2:47 to play, but Williams drained a jumper at the offensive end and defended a drive by Veronica Burton on a layup. Her driving layup with 1:01 left put the Lynx up by nine before grabbing a defensive rebound.

Minnesota’s bench outplayed its Connecticut counterparts on both ends of the floor. Hines-Allen scored seven points and grabbed three rebounds. Cecilia Zandalasini returned to the Lynx lineup after missing Sunday’s game with a strained right quad and finished with five points. Natisha Hiedeman added four points and added a couple of rebounds and assists.

Minnesota overcame an awful offensive start — missing 13 of its first 15 shots — to shoot 45.2% from the field, including 42.1% (8-19) from deep. The Lynx made 13 of 14 free throws.

Connecticut shot 36.4% and missed 15 of its 20 3-point tries.

“They were physical, wouldn’t let us get into our offense,” said Sun coach Stephanie White.

Hines-Allen banked in a turnaround 14-footer at the buzzer, turned to the crowd and let out a roar for a 36-30 Minnesota lead at the break.

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