Nia Coffey scored eight of her 13 points in the fourth quarter in a critical stretch for the Minnesota Lynx in their 88-84 victory over the host Phoenix Mercury on Tuesday night.
Minnesota (1-1) rebounded after losing its opener 91-90 against the visiting Atlanta Dream on Saturday.
Phoenix (1-2), playing its home opener, has lost consecutive games against the Golden State Valkyries and Lynx after routing the defending WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces 96-66 on the road Saturday.
Minnesota had six scorers in double figures, all close in scoring against Phoenix. Kayla McBride and Natasha Howard had 14 points apiece, Coffey and Olivia Miles 13 each and Courtney Williams and reserve Emma Cechova 11.
Howard pulled down 11 rebounds and Coffey 10 as each recorded a double-double.
The Mercury’s Kahleah Copper led all scorers with 30 points on 9-of-21 shooting from the field, including 2 of 7 from 3-point range. She was 10 of 13 from the free-throw line.
DeWanna Bonner added 16 for Phoenix, while Alyssa Thomas had 10 and Natasha Mack nearly had a double-double with nine points and 10 boards.
Neither team could forge a double-digit advantage. The game had 15 ties and 17 lead changes.
The largest lead by either team in the second half was five points.
Copper made a 3-pointer with 4:39 left to put Phoenix ahead 81-77.
She had the opportunity to increase the lead on the next possession but missed a jumper.
Coffey’s 3-pointer cut the lead to 81-80 with 3:41 left.
After a layup by Copper with 2:54 remaining, Howard answered with a close-range shot.
Coffey’s layup with 1:57 left put Minnesota ahead 84-83.
Phoenix’s Thomas missed two free throws, then the teams failed to convert on their next two possessions.
Coffey drilled a 3-pointer with 27 seconds left to give the Lynx an 87-83 lead.
Phoenix’s Bonner missed a 3-pointer and Minnesota’s Olivia Miles was fouled. She made one of two of her free-throw attempts to increase the lead to 88-83 with 13 seconds remaining.
Thomas made one of two free throws with 7 seconds left to close the scoring.
Phoenix held the biggest lead of the game, 29-21 with 7:57 left in the second quarter.
The Mercury held the advantage for the rest of the quarter and led 45-41 at halftime.
Copper had 13 points and Bonner 12 at halftime.
–Field Level Media
