Sylvia Fowles enjoys heartfelt retirement celebration despite Lynx loss to Storm

The Minnesota Lynx may have fallen to the Seattle Storm on Friday night, 96-69, but the loss didn’t dampen the celebration that swelled inside Minneapolis’ Target Center in honor of future Hall-of-Famer Sylvia Fowles as she played her last regular-season home game.

The 36-year-old Fowles, who helped the Lynx win two WNBA titles during her eight seasons with the franchise, received a standing ovation when she exited the game with two minutes remaining. The eight-time All-Star scored 13 points and a game-high 12 rebounds in 26 minutes, going 3-for-3 at the line and recording her 100th career double-double in a Minnesota jersey.

“Coming into this season, I didn’t want none of this attention but as the season went along, I realized how much love and how much appreciation these fans have for me across this league and I never want to take this for granted,” Fowles told ESPN after the game. “So, thank you guys for everything that you have done throughout my career. It’s been an amazing ride and I appreciate you all.”

Seattle (22-13) secured the win – and a 4-0 sweep of the season series – behind 23 points and nine rebounds from Tina Charles and 21 points from Jewell Loyd, who set a franchise record with her 73rd three-pointer of the season. The previous record was 72, set by none other than soon-to-be-retired 13-time All-Star Sue Bird in 2016. With the win, the Storm also locked up the No. 4 seed in the WNBA playoffs, where they’ll host the No. 5-seeded Washington Mystics next week in a first-round, best-of-three series.

“As a fan of Syl and knowing how amazing she is, you don’t want to ruin her night, but it wasn’t ruined at all,” said Storm coach Noelle Quinn, who’s in her second year as head coach. “So much love in the