Kahleah Copper had another big night with 37 points on 15-of-23 shooting as the Phoenix Mercury went on the road and beat the host Las Vegas Aces 98-88 on Tuesday night.
Copper knocked down five 3-pointers, but she had only one during a third quarter in which Phoenix (2-1) went 7-for-10 from behind the arc. The Mercury outscored Las Vegas 27-21 in the period, taking a 73-68 lead into the fourth that they wouldn’t relinquish.
In her most recent outing, Copper dropped a career-high 38 points against the Atlanta Dream on Saturday. It looked like she was still riding the momentum from that performance, hitting four threes in the first half on the way to 20 points.
Copper’s hot hand helped Phoenix go into the break up 47-46.
Sug Sutton added 12 points for the game, while Natasha Cloud finished with 11 points and 10 assists for the Mercury.
The Aces (2-1) saw a 10-game winning streak against Phoenix come to an end. That run included a season-opening 89-80 victory over the Mercury last Tuesday.
Kelsey Plum pumped in 27 points for Las Vegas, which got 23 points, eight boards and eight assists from Jackie Young. A’ja Wilson recorded a double-double (21 points, 13 rebounds) as the Aces got outshot 47.4 percent to 42.3 percent overall.
Las Vegas bridged the halves with a 10-0 run to take a 53-46 lead with 9:20 left in the third quarter.
But the Mercury responded with 19-7 spurt that shifted the momentum, grabbing a 65-60 edge with 4:30 remaining in the third. Copper capped the outburst with a triple. Rebecca Allen had two 3-pointers during the run.
After seeing Phoenix take the lead into the fourth, the Aces stuck around and made their move with a 15-2 rally that cut their deficit to 90-88 with 48.1 seconds remaining. However, Las Vegas never found a way to draw even.
–Field Level Media
