{"id":235482,"date":"2025-09-18T04:11:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T04:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/235482\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T04:11:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T04:11:14","slug":"sabally-thomas-help-phoenix-beat-new-york-86-60-to-even-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/235482\/","title":{"rendered":"Sabally, Thomas help Phoenix beat New York 86-60 to even series"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK, NY \u2014 Satou Sabally and Alyssa Thomas each scored 15 points to help the Phoenix Mercury beat the New York Liberty 86-60 in Game 2 on Wednesday night, evening the best-of-three playoff series.<\/p>\n

The decisive Game 3 will be Friday night in Phoenix.<\/p>\n

Sabally was coming off one of the worst shooting games of her career when she was 2 for 17 in Game 1, but said in practice Tuesday that she was confident she’d bounce back. Kahleah Copper and DeWanna Bonner each had 14.<\/p>\n

New York had a huge emotional lift before the game with Breanna Stewart able to play after spraining the MCL<\/a> in her left knee in overtime of Game 1 on Sunday. She was in her customary starting spot, but was mostly ineffective with just six points in 20 minutes. The boost from Stewart playing didn’t last long.<\/p>\n

After the 75-69 Game 1 loss, Phoenix players felt they missed a lot of shots they normally hit. Those shots were falling on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

Phoenix led by 14 at the half and scored the first six points of the third quarter to take a 20-point lead. The Mercury held the Liberty without a basket in the third until Emma Meesseman scored with 1:35 left in the period. New York missed its first 12 shots before that.<\/p>\n

Meesseman had 11 points to lead the Liberty, who only got 32 points out of their starting group.<\/p>\n

Phoenix took control of the game in the second quarter behind Sabally and Thomas. The Mercury led 36-30 before going on a 13-0 run to extend the advantage to 19 with just under 3 minutes left in the half.<\/p>\n

New York got within 51-37 at the half as Natasha Cloud hit a 3-pointer from the corner with 1.8 seconds left that brought the sellout crowd, which included Spike Lee, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Sue Bird, to its feet.<\/p>\n

The Liberty could have been a bit closer, but they struggled from the foul line in the first half. Sabrina Ionescu, who shot 93% from the foul line during the regular season, missed her first four free throws before finally hitting one.<\/p>\n

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