The best-of-five WNBA semifinal series between the Minnesota Lynx and Connecticut Sun was widely expected to be close.

It’ll go to the limit.

Tyasha Harris scored a playoff career-high 20 points, Alyssa Thomas added 18 points, and the Sun took over in the second half to win 92-82 Sunday in Uncasville, Conn., to force a deciding Game 5 at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Target Center.

“We love playing at home. We love playing in front of our fans, and so we have to go there and defend our home,” said Napheesa Collier, who led the Lynx with 29 points and 13 rebounds.

“The atmosphere when we were there the first two games was absolutely insane, so I can only imagine what it’ll be like in a Game 5,” said DeWanna Bonner, who had 18 points Sunday and was part of the 2023 Sun that won a first-round series-deciding game in downtown Minneapolis.

Seeded second, the Lynx seek a finals berth for the first time since 2017, when the franchise won its fourth title in seven years.

The best-of-five WNBA Finals start Thursday in New York. Seeking its first title, the top-seeded Liberty eliminated the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces on Sunday in the other semifinal.

Minnesota’s defense will need to improve if the Lynx want to make a trip to the Big Apple.

Connecticut shot 53.7% overall, including 60% in the second half where it outscored the Lynx 49-32. For the game, the Sun had a 50-30 advantage in points in the paint.

Coach Cheryl Reeve is surprised the Lynx did not match Connecticut’s defensive intensity.

“There’s not a thing that they did that was a surprise to us. We just didn’t present ourselves in a way that you need to compete and really go toe to toe against a team you knew would be really desperate.”

Harris started 38 regular-season games for the Sun, but an ankle injury kept her out of Game 1, and she was scoreless in 11 minutes combined in the prior two games. She made seven of 11 shots, including four of five from deep.

“We just didn’t guard her,” Reeve said. “It was not just her. There were multiple players that we did not guard. Our defense was subpar. Obviously, that’s how they felt after the last game (a 90-81 Game 3 Lynx win). This is how we feel this game. Makes for a great Game 5.”

A 7-0 run got the Lynx within 88-80 with less than two minutes to play, but Minnesota could not get all the way back.

Bonner scored on a drive. Collier answered with a fadeaway jumper, but DiJonai Carrington countered with a cutting layup for a 10-point lead with 54.6 seconds left.

“Our second half effort defensively was outstanding, and that’s what it’s got to be all the time,” said Sun coach Stephanie White. “The way that we moved the ball, shared the ball, spaced the floor offensively in the second half was really good as well. The job’s not finished. We’ve got to be able to come back and be even better.”

Seeing increased playing time because starting point guard Courtney Williams quickly got into foul trouble, Natisha Hiedeman added 16 points off the bench for Minnesota, which shot 46.7% for the game. However, that number was 34.5% in the second half.

Nine of 14 from 3 in the first half, the Lynx, the league’s top 3-point shooting team, missed its first 10 shots from deep in the second half and made just 1 of 12.

“I can’t think of a three that we took that I didn’t like,” Reeve said.

Up by 10 with 3:24 left in the first half and seven at intermission, the Lynx were outscored 25-13 in the third quarter by the third-seeded Sun.

Minnesota shot 4 for 17 in the quarter and missed all seven attempts from outside the arc. Connecticut made 11 of 20 field goals and was 3 of 5 from deep to open a 68-63 lead.

The Sun were 20 for 35 in the middle two quarters, scoring 53 points.