Storm fall to Mercury 85-82 for 7th loss in 8 games

SEATTLE (AP) — Alyssa Thomas had 19 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds for her 16th career triple-double in the regular season, and the Phoenix Mercury beat the Seattle Storm 85-82 on Sunday.

Phoenix Mercury 85, Seattle Storm 82: Box score

Thomas has five of the 10 triple-doubles in the WNBA this season and 20 of the 53 (counting regular season and playoffs) in league history.

Kahleah Copper scored 17 points and Sami Whitcomb added 15 for Phoenix (20-13). Satou Sabally had 11 points and 10 rebounds, and DeWanna Bonner scored 10 points.

Nneka Ogwumike led Seattle (17-18) with 24 points and Skylar Diggins scored 14. Gabby Williams had 13 points and seven assists, and Erica Wheeler added 11 points. The Storm have lost seven of their past eight.

Ogwumike poked the ball away from Whitcomb and made a follow shot moments later to tie it at 75-all with 3:57 left in the game — the first tie since 2-2. Wheeler hit a 3-pointer with 2:20 remaining that gave the Storm their first lead of the game.

Thomas slipped a pass to Copper for a wide-open layup, Copper added a driving layup and Thomas hit a short jumper to make it 83-78 with 21 seconds to play.

Diggins had two assists and moved into a tie with Becky Hammon for seventh in WNBA history with 1,708 career assists.

Phoenix is 9-0 when at least five players score in double figures this season and is 17-1 when leading going into the fourth quarter.

Sue Bird, who helped the Storm win four championships and had a WNBA-record 3,234 assists, had a statue in her likeness unveiled outside of Climate Pledge Arena before the game. The franchise’s career leading scorer with 6,803 points, Bird is the first player to have a statue dedicated to her by a WNBA franchise.

The Mercury play Tuesday at Golden State. The Storm travels to Chicago to play the Sky on Tuesday.

Seattle Storm unveil Sue Bird statue outside Climate Pledge Arena