MINNEAPOLIS, July 10 (Ticker) -- Katie Smith scored a season-high 34 points as the Minnesota Lynx cruised to an 83-75 victory over the Connecticut Sun.

Teresa Edwards drives around Shannon Johnson. David Sherman WNBAE/Getty Images

Smith, whose career high is 46 points against Los Angeles in 2001, scored her 4,000th point as a professional. The 1996 graduate of Ohio State has 2,582 in the WNBA after amassing 1,431 points in the defunct American Basketball League.

The Lynx led from start to finish and built their largest lead at 75-62 on a pair of free throws by Smith following the ejection of Sun coach Mike Thibault with 6:34 remaining.

Connecticut had gotten as close as 52-47 with 14:44 left on a three-pointer by Brooke Wyckoff, but Minnesota responded with a 10-4 surge to pull away.

Wyckoff and Wendy Palmer scored 17 points apiece to lead the Sun. Taj McWilliams-Franklin added 13 for Connecticut.

Svetlana Abrosimova had 13 points and Sheri Sam 12 for Minnesota, which won for the fifth time in seven games. The Lynx, led by Smith's 12-for-20 performance, shot 54 percent (32-for-59) from the field.