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While the Phoenix Mercury ate their first loss of the year Friday night in Seattle, they look like one of the WNBA’s most improved teams.

One reason is the addition of veteran forward Alyssa Thomas, who will try to get the Mercury back in the win column on Sunday when they host the Washington Mystics.

“‘AT’ cares about one thing and that’s winning,” Phoenix coach Nate Tibbetts said of Thomas. “She wants to do it with toughness and grit.”

Thomas finished with a typical stat line Friday night: 16 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. Through three games, the longtime Connecticut Sun star is averaging 18.3 ppg, 7.7 boards and 6.7 assists.

She’s second on the team in scoring behind Satou Sabally, who’s tallying 22.3 points per game. And while Thomas does commit her share of turnovers — she had six on Friday night — she’s also a primary reason the Mercury (2-1) are fourth in the league in assists at 20 per game.

The absence of Kahleah Copper (knee), the team’s leading scorer last year, bit Phoenix for the first time late Friday night as the Mercury failed to score over the game’s last 4:46.

Washington (2-2) is also coming off a loss on Friday night. After leading nearly the entire game in Las Vegas, the Mystics were outscored 9-0 in the final minute and fell 75-72.

They owned a 12-point third-quarter advantage and still possessed a 72-66 edge with 1:15 remaining after Jade Melbourne made a foul shot. But they committed consecutive turnovers and lost a replay review that led to Jewell Loyd’s winning 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds to go.

It’s not known whether Washington will have leading scorer Brittney Sykes (ankle) available after she was declared out on Friday night about an hour before tip-off. Sykes averages 26.3 points — which ranks second in the league to Minnesota’s Napheesa Collier — and 5.0 assists.

A bright spot Friday night was Sonia Citron’s 19 points, including a late 3-pointer that gave the Mystics a 71-66 lead. The rookie guard from Notre Dame averages 15.8 points per game on 51.3 percent shooting from the field.

“She’s become a pretty important player for us in a very short amount of time,” Washington coach Sydney Johnson said.

–Field Level Media