Down 11 points in the first quarter, Natisha Hiedeman and the Lynx bench provided a much-needed spark.

The starters kept the mojo going in the third quarter, and Minnesota got back in the win column on the second game of a back-to-back set.

Hiedeman tied a season-high with 18 points off the bench — 16 in the first half — to lead four players with double figures in a 91-82 win over the Sparks in Los Angeles on Thursday afternoon.

“We have a few players that aren’t playing as well as they want to play or at their best. T’s timing of this game is what our starters needed,” said coach Cheryl Reeve. “If T wasn’t in our locker room today, this game might have turned out differently. She willed our team to shake off that early start and really gave us a bounce in our step.”

Victory came 24 hours after the Lynx were out-toughed and outscored 19-4 down the stretch in a 79-71 loss Wednesday at Phoenix.

“We knew that we just had to come in here and be focused,” said Hiedeman, whose team was playing its sixth game in 10 days.

Hiedeman scored 10 points in less than four minutes of action in the opening frame.“She’s just a such a spark on the bench,” said Napheesa Collier, who had 17 points and eight rebounds. “She was a plus-14, highest of the game. We feel that when we’re on. T is so quick the way that she’s able to push the pace, especially in transition, getting in the lane, spreading it out, when she’s open taking threes, knocking those down She’s such a dynamic player. … She is what makes the team go, especially when we need that extra spark coming off the bench.”

The seventh-year player finished 7 of 12 from the field after going 6 for 19 and scoring 15 points in her first four July games.

“If the shots are there, I’m going to take them. Today they were there, and we were busting out in transition,” she said. “I don’t think my game is based off points, it’s more so running the offense and finding players.”

The Minnesota bench had 30 of its 34 points in the first half as the Lynx took a 50-40 lead into the break after outscoring Los Angeles 28-14 in the second quarter.

“I’m really, really happy the bench gave the support that it did, because our starters absolutely needed it to kind of help get us going again,” Reeve said.

Up by 27 late in a third quarter where the Lynx outscored Los Angeles 30-19, Minnesota saw the lead dwindle to 80-70 less than three minutes into the fourth quarter before an Alanna Smith basket off a feed from Courtney Williams and a Williams jumper pushed the lead back to 14.

The Lynx lead remained in double digits until the final minute of play.

“Our team does a great job of staying together and keeping winning games the main thing,” said Collier.

Williams finished with 16 points and seven assists, and Smith finished with 15 points. Bridget Carleton had a season-best six assists.

Minnesota won all four games against the Sparks (6-14) this season and has won 17 of the past 19 meetings since August 2020.