By MARK ANDERSON
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Jackie Younger set a WNBA Finals document with 21 factors within the third quarter, ending with 32 to hold the Las Vegas Aces to a 91-78 victory over the Phoenix Mercury on Sunday for a 2-0 lead.
Recreation 3 is Wednesday in Phoenix, the place the Aces hope to place a stranglehold on the sequence as they chase their third title in 4 years. The Mercury have the tall process of needing to win 4 of 5 video games to seize their fourth championship, which might tie the WNBA document.
Younger, who tied a profession playoff excessive in whole factors, fell simply wanting the league document of twenty-two factors for any postseason quarter. Three gamers have achieved that, most not too long ago in 2021 when Younger’s teammate, Jewell Loyd, hit that quantity for Seattle in opposition to the Mercury.
A’ja Wilson scored 20 of her 28 factors within the first half and had 14 rebounds. Chelsea Grey completed with 10 factors and 10 assists.
Kahleah Copper led the Mercury with 23 factors, Satou Sabally scored 22 and Alyssa Thomas had 10 whereas dealing with foul bother a lot of the sport.
Like in Recreation 1 after they started with a 10-2 lead, the Mercury got here out robust, scoring the primary seven factors. Phoenix wound up with 27 factors within the first quarter, however then the Aces held the Mercury to a mixed 24 factors over the next two intervals.
By that time, the Aces had taken cost, main 76-51 going into the fourth and ultimately going up by as a lot as 22 factors.
Any crew dealing with Aces coach Becky Hammon in a Recreation 2 in Las Vegas is asking for bother. She ran her document to 9-0 with this victory, the typical margin being greater than 17 factors.
Initially Printed: October 5, 2025 at 3:05 PM PDT
