Lynx’s Fowles has sights set on WNBA rebound record

Sylvia Fowles is poised for yet another WNBA milestone.

Minnesota’s star center will become the WNBA’s career rebounding leader this week when she passes former teammate and current Lynx assistant coach Rebekkah Brunson, barring any unforeseen events. Fowles is six rebounds behind Brunson’s mark of 3,356 and has a chance to break it Tuesday night against Seattle.

“It’s very special to be surpassing Rebekkah, it means everything,” Fowles said. “Watching BB put in work before I got into the league, I was in awe. To grab this from her means a lot because I know she put in the work. It sums up who I am as a player as well. I never was an offensive threat until I got to the league. This new title will be everything since I’ve put in work since day one.”

Fowles said she and Brunson haven’t talked about the record.

“She did make a statement to Cheryl (Reeve) that if anyone was going to break this record it was going to be me,” Fowles said. “That means a lot coming from her.”

The 6-foot-5 center celebrates her five-year anniversary with the Lynx this week after getting traded to the team from Chicago on July 27, 2015.

Off the court, Fowles has been busy in the bubble finishing up the semester for an online degree through the American Academy McAllister Institute. It’s one of the premier mortuary schools. Fowles has her last final exam on Friday for the semester and will graduate in December.

“I can see the light at the end of that tunnel,” Fowles said laughing. “It’s been a crazy year.”

Since entering the bubble in early July she’s had a three-hour class every Wednesday on zoom.

“”You don’t want coach to alter practice because of your schedule, but she understood where I was coming from and that I had a couple weeks left of this course and she was lenient with me so that was a plus,” Fowles said.

Behind Fowles’ 17 points and 18 rebounds in the opener, the Lynx moved up three spots to fifth in the AP power poll this week. The Storm remained the top team although they were no longer the unanimous choice, garnering 11 of the 16 first place votes from the national media panel.