HOUSTON, Sept. 14 (Ticker) -- Tina Thompson and the Houston Comets may not be going to the playoffs, but they have not given up on their season.

NBA TV highlights from Lynx-Comets: 56k | 300k

Thompson scored 27 points to lead the Comets to a 70-59 triumph over the Minnesota Lynx, who are in the middle of the playoff hunt.

Sheryl Swoopes added 12 of her 15 points during a key first-half run for Houston, which will miss the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.

Houston - which snapped a four-game skid - trailed 20-11 midway through the first half before entering the break on a 21-6 run. Thompson's 3-pointer with 43 seconds left gave Houston the lead for good, 29-26.

Nicole Ohlde had 15 points and Svetlana Abrosimova had 14 for Minnesota, which entered the night in third place in the Western Conference, one-half game ahead of Phoenix and two games in front of fifth-place Sacramento with three games remaining.

The top four teams in the conference make the postseason.