VALKYRIES EDGE WINGS, CLINCH PLAYOFF BID IN FIRST YEAR
Carla Leite broke the game’s final tie on a jumper with 2:26 remaining and the Golden State Valkyries became the first WNBA expansion team ever to clinch a playoff spot in its first season with an 84-80 win over the Dallas Wings on Thursday in San Francisco.
A fifth consecutive win pushed the sixth-place Valkyries (23-18) to a three-game lead on the ninth-place Los Angeles Sparks with just three games remaining in the regular season, but Golden State holds the head-to-head tiebreaker. The top eight teams reach the postseason.
Dallas (9-33), the league’s losingest team, held the upper hand on Golden State most of the way, leading by as many as 13 points.
But Golden State, down 62-58 entering the final period, scored the first five points of the last quarter, taking the lead on a Janelle Salaun 3-pointer and setting up a tight finish.
Paige Bueckers, the game’s leading scorer with 27 points, converted a three-point play with 3:34 remaining to give Dallas its last lead at 74-72.
Salaun countered immediately with a pair of free throws, creating the fourth and final tie of the last 10 minutes, before Leite drilled her clutch 21-footer from straight-away that gave the Valkyries the lead for good.
Veronica Burton delivered a three-point play with 22.3 seconds left to put Golden State up by five.
The Wings didn’t go quietly. Hoops by Bueckers twice got the visitors within two in the final 12.1 seconds, but Burton countered each with a pair of free throws, keeping Dallas at arm’s length.
Salaun paced five Golden State players in double figures with 19 points, hitting six of her 10 shots. Leite and Burton finished with 15 apiece, while Monique Billings added 11 and Iliana Rupert had 10.
Billings and Rupert also blocked three shots apiece.
Salaun had nearly half her points from beyond the 3-point arc, going 3-for-4, helping the Valkyries outscore the visitors 21-15 from deep despite taking five fewer attempts.
Bueckers, who had only six points in the first half as the Wings took a 41-32 lead into the break, shot 11-for-20 and also found time for six assists.
Myisha Hines-Allen contributed 12 points and 11 assists for the Wings, while Haley Jones logged 18 points to go with a game-high seven assists and Maddy Siegrist had 16 points.
The loss was Dallas’ ninth in a row.
ACES TOP LYNX, STRETCH WIN STREAK TO 13
A’ja Wilson pumped in 31 points and the host Las Vegas Aces set a franchise record with their 13th consecutive victory, defeating the league-best Minnesota Lynx 97-87 on Thursday night.
The outcome avenged an embarrassing 111-58 loss to the Lynx on Aug. 2. The Aces haven’t lost since that game and they served notice again that they’ll contend for a championship in a spirited matchup.
Jackie Young racked up 20 points, aided by four 3-pointers, and Chelsea Gray provided 13 points and 10 assists for Las Vegas, which shot 55.1 percent from the field. NaLyssa Smith added 10 points.
Natisha Hiedeman scored 22 points off the bench for the Lynx (32-9), who won the first three meetings with Las Vegas and have clinched the top seed for the playoffs. Courtney Williams’ 14 points, Alanna Smith’s 13, Napheesa Collier’s 12 and Kayla McBride’s 10 also helped Minnesota.
The Aces (27-14), who improved to 15-5 at home, are tied with the Atlanta Dream in the race for the No. 2 seed.
Wilson, who shot 12-for-15 from the field, passed Collier for the WNBA scoring lead. Wilson also collected a game-high eight rebounds.
Young eclipsed the 1,000-assist mark for her career, finishing with five Thursday night.
It was a tight game throughout until the Aces scored the first six points of the fourth quarter for a 76-66 lead. Wilson drained her first 3-point attempt to restore a 10-point margin at 81-71 with 5:39 remaining.
The Lynx made a couple of surges, with Hiedeman’s long 3-pointer closing the gap to 92-86 with 1:42 to go. Gray countered with a 3 just 13 seconds later.
The Aces led 26-24 after the first quarter and 47-44 at halftime. Wilson had 10 points slightly more than five minutes into the game.
Both teams attempted 11 free throws, with Las Vegas making 10 compared to Minnesota’s six. Bridget Carleton’s nine points for the Lynx came on 3-for-3 shooting on 3-pointers.
KAHLEAH COPPER, MERCURY TOP MYSTICS FOR 6TH STRAIGHT WIN
Kahleah Copper scored 18 points and the visiting Phoenix Mercury extended their winning streak to six games by leading most of the way in a 75-69 victory over the host Washington Mystics on Thursday.
The Mercury (27-14) matched their longest winning streak of the season and won for the 11th time in 14 games. The result leaves Phoenix tied with the Atlanta Dream for second place in the WNBA, a half-game ahead of the Las Vegas Aces, who play later Thursday night.
Copper scored 14 points in the first half en route to a 7-of-21 shooting performance.
Phoenix’s Alyssa Thomas collected 12 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists, just missing her eighth triple-double of the season.
Sami Whitcomb added 12 points while Satou Sabally contributed 10 for the Mercury, who shot 41.8 percent from the floor and 38.2 percent (13-for-34) from 3-point range.
Kiki Iriafen scored 18 points to lead the Mystics (16-26), who dropped their eighth straight game and fell. Shakira Austin added 15 points and 10 rebounds, but rookie Sonia Citron was held to seven. Washington shot 38.4 percent on field-goal attempts, 25 percent (4-for-16) from beyond the arc.
Washington was within 61-59 after Sug Sutton’s 18-footer with 8:42 left, but Phoenix gradually pulled away. The Mercury took a 69-62 lead with 3:41 remaining on Copper’s 7-footer after Thomas secured an offensive rebound.
Following a Phoenix timeout, Thomas sank a 13-footer for a 71-62 lead with 2:52 left before Washington scored seven straight points, getting within two on a basket by Iriafen with 66 seconds left. Phoenix called another timeout, and Sabally sank a 3-pointer with 50.3 seconds remaining to clinch it.
Phoenix shot 8-for-15 and held a 22-16 lead through the opening quarter. Copper converted a three-point play with 2:41 left in the half and sank two 3-pointers in the final minute as the Mercury ended the half with a 14-4 run for 44-36 lead.
The Mercury went up 48-40 on a basket by Copper with 7:07 left in the third and were ahead 51-45 following a trey by Sabally less than two minutes later. Citron’s free throw forged a 53-53 tie, but Whitcomb sank two 3-pointers in the final two minutes as Phoenix entered the fourth with a 61-55 advantage.
