LAS VEGAS — It was an uncharacteristic fourth quarter for the Phoenix Mercury as the Las Vegas Aces outscored them by seven for an 89-86 win in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals on Friday, Oct. 3, at Michelob Ultra Arena. 

The Mercury held the lead for most of the game, but the Aces’ defense turned up in the fourth quarter and forced the Mercury out of their rhythm. Alyssa Thomas had a chance to take the lead with free throws in the final 24 seconds, but missed both shots. 

Aces forward Jackie Young was fouled with 13.5 seconds left and made it a three-point game. Kahleah Copper’s second-half struggles continued when the Aces smothered her along the perimeter, forcing her to give the ball to Satou Sabally for the final shot.  

Sabally’s missed shot is part of a sequence that coach Nate Tibbetts would like to redo. 

“We ran a play to get Kahleah a look, they did a good job switching out, and we had one more option off of that, which I probably should’ve ran and called a timeout with 6 seconds to go. They made a good defensive stand there,” Tibbetts said. 

Copper led the Mercury with 21 points, but 19 of those points came from the first half. Copper drained six of her eight shots in the first half, tying Diana Taurasi’s Finals record with five 3-pointers in the first half.  

But once the second half started, the Aces made the right adjustments, and she only made one field goal on four attempts. 

“They went zone and we got up nine points and went zone and made us stand a little bit,” Tibbetts said. “I thought we had some good looks. I give them credit for mixing up their defense; we didn’t handle it well. That was part of the reason she didn’t get as many shots in the second half.” 

As the Aces turned up their defense, their offense matched with the bench outscoring the Mercury 41-16. Dana Evans scored 11 of her 21 points in the second half on 4 of 6 shooting, followed by Jewell Loyd’s 18 from the bench. 

The Mercury committed six turnovers in the second half.

The Mercury’s tight eight-player rotation was tested when guard Sami Whitcomb went down late in the third quarter after Aces forward NaLyssa Smith backed into her knee.  

Whitcomb’s injury looked serious when she hobbled on one leg to the tunnel to the locker room and was then assisted by two workers. She returned to start the fourth quarter and made one 3-pointer on three attempts. 

Sabally also made it harder on the rotation with five personal fouls, including three in the second half.  

Sabally bluntly answered, “Keep my hands up,” when talking about how to avoid fouls in the next game.  

“We have to play better defense and go back to what we do best,” Sabally said. “I think the results will show that we are the better team, but I’m really not too down on myself. This game is it. We’ll go back and practice tomorrow, and we’ll walk through our mistakes.” 

Game 2 of the Finals will remain in Las Vegas on Sunday, Oct. 5, at noon. The game will be shown on ABC. 

The Phoenix Mercury dropped a tightly contested Game 1, losing 89-86, in the final minute against the Las Vegas Aces in the WNBA Finals at Michelob ULTRA Arena on Oct. 3

Alyssa Thomas drove to the paint to cut the Aces’ lead to one possession with 51 seconds left and then blocked A’ja Wilson in the paint. Thomas had a chance to grab the lead with 25 seconds left, but was fouled by Jackie Young in the paint. Thomas missed both her free throws. 

Young was fouled with 13.5 seconds left and made it a three-point game. The Aces’ defense on Kahleah Copper made it hard for her to shoot a 3, which forced her to give the ball to Satou Sabally. Sabally missed the final shot. 

Wilson led the Aces with 21 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.  Copper led the Mercury with 21 points on 7 of 12 shooting. 

The Phoenix Mercury lead the Las Vegas Aces, 71-67, following the third quarter. 

However, the Mercury had an unpleasant sight when Aces forward NaLyssa Smith backed into Mercury guard Sami Whitcomb’s knee near the end of the third quarter. Whitcomb hopped on one leg on her way in the tunnel to the locker room and was then assisted by two workers. 

A flagrant foul was called on Kahleah Copper due to a reckless closeout on Chelsea Gray’s 3-point attempt with 5:37 left. Gray went back to the locker room for a few minutes with a potential ankle injury, but returned with three minutes left in the quarter.  

The Phoenix Mercury hold a five-point lead at halftime, going up 50-45 against the Las Vegas Aces.  

Kahleah Copper was hot from the 3-point line in the first half, scoring 15 of her 19 points from beyond the arc. She leads all players in scoring, followed by Aces guard Jewell Loyd’s 13 points. 

The Phoenix Mercury and Las Vegas Aces are tied at 21 after the first quarter.  

The Mercury had a hot start and went up 10-2 and held the Aces to 1 of 8 shooting. The Aces fired back with a 9-2 run as Jewell Loyd scored four points. The Mercury shot 1 of 7 in that run. 

Kahleah Copper led the Mercury with seven points on 2 of 3 shooting and was 1 of 2 from the 3-point line. 

WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert made her first public appearance since Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier called out Engelbert and the WNBA leadership in her exit interview. 

Collier said on Tuesday, Sept. 30, that Engelbert told her in a private conversation that Caitlin Clark and other players “should be on their knees” in gratitude for the platform the league has given them. Collier said the commissioner singled out Clark’s endorsement deals, saying she wouldn’t have them if not for the WNBA. 

Engelbert repeatedly denied the comments in her news conference and said she will talk with Collier after the WNBA Finals are completed. 

“There’s obviously a lot of reporting and inaccuracy about what I did or didn’t say,” Engelbert said. “I will say that I highly respect the players. There’s a lot of emotion and passion, and the WNBA Finals are going on. I’ll leave it there. I was disheartened. I’m a human too. I have a family. I have two kids who are devastated by these comments. It’s been a tough week.” 

Phoenix Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts made sure that everyone knew Kahleah Copper was telling the truth when she first predicted the team would go to the WNBA Finals. 

Copper said on Thursday, Oct. 2, that she saw a bright future as early as May 30, even with injuries to Alyssa Thomas and Copper herself. 

“I think a lot of people in the league, the media, even on our own team were looking around and saying, who are some of these players?” Tibbetts said. “We had some people step up and I think she just believed in the people that she knew, but our supporting cast was giving her confidence. Her belief in us became something that we held onto. No one was expecting anything from us early in the year and we’ve taken on the underdog role.” 

As per usual, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert will hold a news conference before the first game of the WNBA Finals. 

But her conference comes at a divisive time between WNBA leadership and players. Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier blasted Engelbert’s leadership with a prepared statement on Tuesday, Sept. 30, during her exit interview. 

Engelbert has not spoken to the media since Collier’s exit interview. She did respond with a statement that she was “disheartened” by how Collier described their interactions with each other.  

Her conference will be held at 4 p.m. MST. 

Prior to Game 1 of the WNBA Finals, the Phoenix Mercury did not hold their shootaround. 

Teams typically hold a light morning practice with media availability before evening games, but the Mercury canceled their availability. The Las Vegas Aces held theirs in the morning. 

The Mercury will hold their next availability when coach Nate Tibbetts does his pregame news conference at 3:15 p.m. MST. 

Reach the reporter at jenna.ortiz@arizonarepublic.com, as well as @jennarortiz on X.

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(This story has been updated with new information.)