ACES GET BY MERCURY FOR 6TH STRAIGHT VICTORY
A’ja Wilson had 30 points and 16 rebounds, Chelsea Gray had 16 points and a season-high nine assists, and the Las Vegas Aces extended their winning streak to six games with an 86-83 victory over the host Phoenix Mercury on Friday.
Jackie Young scored 17 points and Jewell Loyd had 10 points and two 3-pointers for the Aces (20-14), who moved into a virtual tie with the Mercury (19-13) for fourth place in the league standings.
The Aces have not lost since suffering a 111-58 blowout loss at home to Minnesota on Aug. 2.
Gray scored 10 points in the fourth quarter, and her jumper gave the Aces an 84-79 lead with 1:14 remaining.
After the Mercury closed to one on Alyssa Thomas’s layup with 30 seconds left, Gray made two free throws after an errant Phoenix inbounds pass with eight-tenths of a second left to make it 86-83.
Gray blocked Satou Sabally’s long 3-point attempt at the buzzer.
Sabally had 26 points, Alyssa Thomas had 15 points and nine assists, and Kahleah Copper had 15 points for Mercury, who lost their second straight after a three-game winning streak.
Wilson had her 16th double, tying Thomas for second in the league behind Chicago center Angel Reese, who has 17.
Wilson made 14 of 15 free throws and has made 31 of 32 in the last three games.
The Aces have won two of three in the season series and could claim the tie-breaker when the teams meet for the final time in Las Vegas next Friday. The top four teams have home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
The Mercury’s only win in the series came June 15, when Wilson missed the game with an injury.
The Mercury led by seven in the first quarter and six in the second before the Aces opened the third quarter on a 17-6 run to take their biggest lead, 58-48, when Young made a 3-pointer from the left wing with 3:56 left in the period.
The Aces led 60-59 after three quarters before the teams see-sawed through the fourth, when there were eight lead changes and four ties.
The Aces had a 39-30 rebounding edge.
STORM HOLD OFF DREAM IN WNBA’S FIRST INTERNATIONAL GAME
Skylar Diggins scored 21 points and dished out 11 assists on Friday as the Seattle Storm ended a six-game losing streak with an 80-78 win over the Atlanta Dream in Vancouver.
Playing the WNBA’s first regular-season game outside the United States, Seattle (17-17) put five players in double figures and committed only six turnovers. Nneka Ogwumike added 16 points, including a foul shot with 1:47 left that gave the Storm the lead for good at 77-76, and eight rebounds.
Seattle’s Brittney Sykes chipped in 13 points, while rookie Dominique Malonga came off the bench for 12 points and eight rebounds. Gabby Williams contributed 11 points for the Storm, who hit 46.5 percent of their field-goal attempts and earned a 25-4 advantage in fastbreak points.
Rhyne Howard scored 21 points for Atlanta (21-12), which saw a six-game winning streak end. Howard was 12 of 13 at the foul line but came up short on the Dream’s final two possessions, as she had a layup attempt blocked by Sykes before missing a runner in the lane just before time expired.
Brionna Jones added 18 points and 10 rebounds for Atlanta, while Allisha Gray was held to 12 points on 4-of-12 shooting. Brittney Griner chipped in 10 points in a reserve role.
Atlanta took the first of two brief first-half leads just before the halfway point of the first quarter on a basket from Griner. Sykes responded two trips later with a driving layup that started a 7-0 burst, and Seattle held a 21-20 edge after 10 minutes.
Naz Hillmon’s layup put the Dream on top 24-23 at the 7:24 mark of the second before the Storm ripped off a 13-2 burst for their first 10-point advantage on Malonga’s layup with 4:21 left in the period. The Storm got to halftime with a 40-34 cushion.
Seattle bid to blow the game open in the third quarter, opening up a 60-45 lead on Ogwumike’s driving layup with 3:25 remaining. Diggins ended the period with a bang, swishing a long 3-pointer to put the Storm ahead 67-55.
WASHINGTON’S ROOKIE TANDEM AMASS 39 POINTS IN MYSTICS’ WIN AT FEVER
Sonia Citron’s 21 points and Kiki Iriafen’s 18 points and 12 rebounds helped carry the visiting Washington Mystics in an 88-84 victory against the Indiana Fever on Friday night in Indianapolis.
Sug Sutton added 13 points and Alysha Clark recorded 11 points for the Mystics (15-18).
Aliyah Boston’s 20 points and nine rebounds paced Indiana. Kelsey Mitchell notched 14 points and Natasha Howard, and Odyssey Sims both added 11 points. Damiris Dantas finished with 10 points for the Fever (18-16), who have lost four of their last five games.
Washington made it through a choppy fourth-quarter stretch by posting 13 of the first 18 points in the stanza for a 75-69 edge.
The Fever cut an eight-point deficit with 2:31 remaining to 83-80, but couldn’t complete the comeback.
Jade Melbourne made three of four free throws to help desk the outcome.
With the game knotted at 56-all and four minutes to play in third, the Mystics scored six straight points — including a deep Clark trey — to lead by six in the final minute. But Dantas notched five points — including a 3-ball at the buzzer — sandwiched around Sophie Cunningham’s 3-pointer for the Fever’s 8-0 run in the last 57 seconds of the quarter which gave them a 58-56 lead after 30 minutes.
Indiana was up 45-40 at halftime despite connecting on just one shot from the field across the last four minutes. The Fever shot 54.3 percent from the floor in the first half.
But the Mystics bounced back to shoot 66.7 percent (10-of-15) in the second quarter, putting them at 53.3 percent at the break.
The Fever led by 12 points by early in the second quarter, with Sims already racking up nine points in eight minutes off the bench.
Fever guard Caitlin Clark missed another game with a right leg ailment.
KELSEY PLUM HITS FOR 28 AS SPARKS OUTLAST WINGS
Los Angeles’ Kelsey Plum scored 28 points despite missing two late free throws as the Sparks survived a furious Dallas rally over the final five minutes to beat the Wings 97-96 on Friday in Arlington, Texas.
The Sparks (16-17) never trailed, yet the win was anything but easy.
Los Angeles led by just three points at halftime before expanding its advantage to 80-68 heading into the fourth quarter. Plum’s 3-pointer with 8:11 to play pushed the Sparks’ margin to 15 points, but Dallas responded, drawing to within 95-91 when Aziaha James’ layup with 1:54 left caped an 11-2 run.
JJ Quinerly poured in a 3-pointer from the corner with 15.1 seconds left to bring the Wings within a point. After the pair of missed free throws by Plum with 12.3 seconds remaining, Dallas’ Paige Bueckers had a chance to win the game, but her 3-point attempt with 1.5 seconds to play rimmed out, allowing the Sparks to escape.
Dearica Hamby added 20 points and 10 rebounds for Los Angeles. Rickea Jackson and Azura Stevens had 15 each, and Julie Allemand recorded 12 points and 10 assists.
Bueckers led all scorers with 29 points, with Maddy Siegrist adding 15 for the Wings (9-25), who have dropped six of their past seven outings. Quinerly put up 11 points and nine assists, and James contributed 10 points.
Dallas played without star guard Arike Ogunbowale (right knee soreness) for the second straight game.
The Sparks jumped to a 15-6 lead after a three-point play by Hamby at the 6:54 mark of the first quarter. Dallas culled its deficit to two points multiple times before Los Angeles swung back carry a 32-27 edge after 10 minutes of play.
The Wings tied the game at 34-34 when Diamond Miller scored on a layup 2 1/2 minutes into the second quarter. Los Angeles rebuilt the lead to a half-high 11 points on Jackson’s two free throws with 1:05 left in the period before the Wings roared back to score the final eight points and draw within 53-50 entering the break.
Hamby led all scorers before halftime with 16 points while Jackson had 13 and Plum 12. Bueckers paced the Wings with 15 points in the half.
VALKYRIES PICK UP 4TH STRAIGHT WIN IN ROUT OF SKY
In their last of a quick two-game road trip in the Eastern Conference, the Golden State Valkyries made easy work against the host Chicago Sky Friday night in a 90-59 win behind a second consecutive career-high scoring night from Cecilia Zandalasini.
After Zandalasini scored 20 points on Wednesday, the Italian forward continued her run on Friday, matching her career best with 20 points. It marked the fourth straight double-digit scoring game Zandalasini — the first time she has hit the feat in four WNBA seasons.
Zandalasini was one of six players who hit a 3-point shot for Golden State (18-15), including three triples by Janelle Salaun, who had 15 points and a team-high six rebounds.
With 8:36 remaining in the third quarter, the Sky (8-25) tied the game 44-44 on a Rachel Banham 3-pointer. But that is when the Valkyries increased the defensive intensity.
Despite center Kamilla Cardoso facing limited playing time in the third due to four fouls, Golden State went on a 25-5 run and held Chicago to 2-of-9 shooting from the floor. That defense held in the fourth as the visitors outscored the Sky 48-19 in the final two quarters.
Golden State turned a tie game into a 20-point lead heading into the fourth, an advantage the Valkyries would not relinquish to the struggling Sky.
In the fourth quarter, Golden State added to the lead and stretched it to a game-high 31 points.
With the defeat, Chicago has 12 losses in the last 13 games, stretching back to before the WNBA All-Star break in mid-July. The Valkyries, meanwhile, won their fourth straight and seventh in the past nine games.
In addition, the loss puts Chicago at 1-9 when star forward Angel Reese does not play. The second-year Chicago star missed her seventh game in a row with a back injury.
Banham led the Sky with 15 points and three 3-pointers. The deep-shooting performance made Banham the fourth player in Chicago franchise history to hit 70 field goals from beyond the arc in a season. Cardoso scored 14 points to go along with five assists and four rebounds.
The win for Golden State puts the expansion franchise in the WNBA record books as the winningest first-year team in league history, passing the 1998 Detroit Shock.
