Mercury falls short to the Valkyries

The Phoenix Mercury couldn’t carry over the momentum from their dominant win over Las Vegas, falling 95-79 to the Golden State Valkyries on Sunday night at Chase Center in San Francisco.

Phoenix opened the game strong, jumping out to a 7-0 lead early, but Golden State responded with a massive second quarter run that completely shifted the game. The Valkyries outscored the Mercury 35-18 in the second quarter and never looked back, improving to 2-0 on the season.  

Despite the loss, veteran star Alyssa Thomas nearly recorded a triple-double, finishing with 19 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds. However, Phoenix struggled with ball security, committing 17 turnovers, including six from Thomas.  Former Stanford standout Kiana Williams helped spark a late Mercury push with a key fourth-quarter 3-pointer that cut the deficit to five points at 73-68. Thomas later added free throws to make it a three-point game, but Golden State closed the contest on a dominant run.  

Golden State was led by Janelle Salaün, who scored 21 points off the bench while shooting 7-of-9 from the field and a perfect 4-for-4 from three-point range. Gabby Williams and Kayla Thornton each added 19 points, while Veronica Burton recorded a double-double with 13 points and 12 assists.  The Mercury shot an efficient 48.1% from the field and hit 11 three-pointers, but Golden State answered with 13 made threes and forced Phoenix into costly mistakes that turned into 24 Valkyries points off turnovers.  

Phoenix now returns home for its home opener against the Minnesota Lynx on Tuesday night as the Mercury look to bounce back and even their early season record at 2-2.