Satou Sabally scored 15 points in a bounce-back performance, leading the Phoenix Mercury to a 86-60 win over the host New York Liberty on Wednesday and tying their best-of-three first-round playoff series at one game each.
The deciding game will be played on Friday night in Phoenix.
Sabally made 5 of 11 shots on Wednesday, including 2 of 4 from 3-point range. On Sunday, she shot just 2-for-17, including 1-for-10 from deep, and finished with nine points as Phoenix lost the opener at home in overtime, 76-69 in overtime.
In Game 2, however, fourth-seeded Phoenix used a 15-0 second-quarter run to build a first-half lead that got as high as 19 points.
The fifth-seeded Liberty, the reigning WNBA champions, never recovered.
The margin topped out at 31 points as Phoenix produced its first playoff win since 2021.
Phoenix also got 15 points, seven assists and six rebounds from Alyssa Thomas. Kahleah Copper and DeWanna Bonner added 14 points each, and Kathryn Westbeld contributed 10 points.
Liberty All-Star guard Sabrina Ionescu, a 93.3 percent foul shooter this year, missed her first four free throws. She had never missed more than two free throws in a game in her career. She finished the game with nine points after going 2-for-6 from the foul line and 1-for-8 on 3-point attempts.
New York’s Breanna Stewart, a seven-time All-Star, started despite sustaining an MCL strain on Sunday. Stewart scored just six points in 20 minutes.
Emma Meesseman put up a team-high 11 points off the bench for New York. Liberty center Jonquel Jones produced seven points and a game-high 13 rebounds, but she went scoreless after the first quarter.
The opening period ended with a 25-25 score. The Liberty, who led the league with 83.7 percent foul shooting in the regular season, made just 2 of 7 from the line in the opening quarter. Phoenix made 7 of 7.
Sabally scored 10 points in the second quarter as the Mercury — despite a late Liberty run — settled for a 51-37 halftime lead. New York shot just 3-for-16 (18.8 percent) from the floor in the second period.
The Liberty got stops in the third quarter, but they couldn’t take advantage, missing their first 11 shots. New York’s first field goal of the quarter came on a Meesseman layup with 1:35 left, and the Mercury led 69-47 entering the fourth.
For the game, Phoenix had a 20-2 edge on fastbreak points.
New York shot just 30.2 percent from the floor while Phoenix hit 47.9 percent.
–Field Level Media
