Sabally, Thomas lead Mercury past Liberty 86-60 to even playoff series
Satou Sabally and Alyssa Thomas scored 15 points apiece to power the Phoenix Mercury past the New York Liberty 86-60 on Wednesday night, knotting their WNBA first-round series at one game each.
The winner-take-all Game 3 is set for Friday in Phoenix.
Sabally bounced back in a big way after a rough Game 1, where she shot just 2-for-17. She and Thomas fueled a decisive second-quarter surge, and Kahleah Copper and DeWanna Bonner added 14 points each for Phoenix.
New York got an emotional lift when Breanna Stewart returned to the starting lineup after spraining her left knee in Game 1, but she was limited to six points in 20 minutes. The Liberty’s offense sputtered badly, with their starting five combining for only 32 points. Emma Meesseman led the team with 11.
Phoenix built a 14-point halftime lead and blew the game open early in the third quarter. The Liberty went scoreless for nearly nine minutes in the period, missing their first 12 shots before Meesseman finally broke through with 1:35 left.
The Mercury seized control late in the second quarter, turning a 36-30 edge into a 49-30 cushion with a 13-0 run. New York cut it to 51-37 at the break after Natasha Cloud buried a corner three just before the buzzer, sending the sold-out crowd—featuring Spike Lee, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Sue Bird—into a brief frenzy.
But the Liberty left too many points at the line. Sabrina Ionescu, a 93% free-throw shooter in the regular season, missed her first four attempts before finally connecting.
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