![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/86284463007-usatsi-27140594.jpg\"\/)
![\"play\"](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/appservices\/universal-web\/universal\/icons\/icon-play-alt-white.svg\"){kind=icon}
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Can Mercury break through Lynx defense?<\/p>\n
USAT’s Meghan Hall and Sam Cardona-Norberg break down Mercury\u2019s playoff chances against the Lynx and Alyssa Thomas\u2019s impact.<\/p>\n
Sports Seriously<\/p>\n
The Phoenix Mercury and Minnesota Lynx were neck-and-neck to take the critical Game 3, but it was the fourth quarter where the Mercury\u2019s defense took over.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Holding the Lynx to nine points in the final frame, the Mercury are now one win\u00a0away\u00a0from the WNBA Finals after winning, 84-76, at PHX Arena on Friday, Sept. 26.\u00a0<\/p>\n
All season,\u00a0the Mercury have been at their best when the Big 3 of Satou\u00a0Sabally, Kahleah Copper and Alyssa Thomas are playing at a high level.\u00a0Once\u00a0Sabally\u00a0got going in the second half, shooting\u00a05\u00a0of 6 from the floor and scoring 19 points after missing all five shots in the first half, Phoenix began to reel in the No. 1-seeded Lynx.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you bring great players together, you never really know for sure how it\u2019s going to work,\u201d coach Nate Tibbetts said. \u201cWe did\u00a0a great job\u00a0of finding ‘Kah’ (Copper) early. I thought in the first half, (Sabally) may have forced some things.\u00a0I think she\u00a0was excited about the game.<\/p>\n
“The second half, I was extremely proud of her and how she let the game come to her.\u00a0She\u2019s\u00a0just fearless and made some big-time plays down the stretch.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sabally\u00a0led all scorers with 23 points, followed by\u00a0Copper\u00a0and Thomas posting\u00a021 points.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Copper shot\u00a09\u00a0of 13\u00a0for the game, but she carried the Mercury with 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting in the first half.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Emotions rose after halftime when\u00a0Copper\u00a0received\u00a0a\u00a0technical after beating\u00a0Lynx guard\u00a0Courtney Williams on the fast break midway through the quarter.<\/p>\n
The high intensity seemed to have a positive effect on the Mercury from that point forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was nothing deeper than what it was,\u201d Copper said. \u201cRight after that, we came to a timeout and AT (Thomas) spoke up about staying composed and understanding that we understand the moment, but just to stay locked in, and we don\u2019t want anything to affect the game and change the momentum.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The physicality from both sides reached a boiling point when\u00a0Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve was ejected from the game after\u00a0Napheesa\u00a0Collier was hit by Thomas after Thomas poked the ball loose, resulting in a fast-break layup with 21.8 seconds left.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In her profanity-laced postgame speech<\/a>, Reeve said that\u00a0Collier\u2019s leg was \u201ctaken out and\u00a0probably has\u00a0a fracture.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Collier posted 17 points for the Lynx on 8-of-15\u00a0shooting, but\u00a0scored only four points on 2-of-6 shooting in the second half.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like\u00a0she\u2019s\u00a0a routine player who gets her spots in an elite way and you\u00a0have to\u00a0shut that down,\u201d\u00a0Sabally\u00a0said. “She has her 50\/40\/90\u00a0(shooting 50% from the field, 40% from 3-point range and 90% from the free-throw line. That is\u00a0really big.\u00a0It\u2019s hard to do and to disrupt that, you have to be an elite defender.<\/p>\n “That\u2019s what we have on the\u00a0team, and this is really\u00a0teamwork. We have a lot of tips on her, so\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0been a team effort.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0just knowing where she wants to go.”<\/p>\n Natisha Hiedeman provided a spark off the bench for the Lynx with 19 points, but led the team with just eight points in the second half.<\/p>\n The Mercury will have a chance to eliminate the Lynx in Game 4 on Sunday, Sept. 28, on ESPN.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Phoenix Mercury have the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx on the brink of elimination in the WNBA semifinals, rallying for a dramatic 84-76\u00a0win in Game 3.\u00a0<\/p>\n Satou\u00a0Sabally\u00a0had a massive second half, going\u00a05\u00a0of\u00a06\u00a0from the floor and scoring\u00a019\u00a0points after missing all five shots in the first half. Saballa finished with 23 points on the night, which included an 11-for-11 performance at the free-throw line.<\/p>\n Kahleah Copper scored 21\u00a0points on\u00a09-of-13\u00a0shooting.\u00a0<\/p>\n Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve was ejected from the game after receiving her second technical foul with 21.8 seconds left in the game.\u00a0Reeve was dragged away from the official by her coaching staff and guard Natisha Hiedeman.\u00a0Associate head coach Eric Thibault also received a technical following Reeve\u2019s ejection.\u00a0<\/p>\n Minnesota Lynx guard Natisha Hiedeman had a big third quarter with eight points and propelled the Lynx to a 67-63 lead. The Lynx outscored the Mercury by eight in the quarter and were 10 of 19 (52.6%).\u00a0<\/p>\n Hiedeman leads the Lynx with 19 points in the game, while the Mercury are led by Kahleah Copper\u2019s 19 points.\u00a0Copper\u00a0has been playing\u00a0well throughout the\u00a0game, but\u00a0got a technical after beating Courtney Williams on the fast break with 4:38 left.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Phoenix Mercury\u00a0took a 48-44 lead at halftime.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Lynx dealt with a lot of issues in the first half, receiving a traveling violation and several foul calls.\u00a0Frustrations\u00a0boiled when a shot clock violation on\u00a0Napheesa\u00a0Collier was called with 5:27 left, and head coach Cheryl Reeve received a technical foul.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kahleah Copper dominated in her matchup against Courtney Williams, scoring 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting. Williams was limping around in the second quarter and was a step slower at times.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Phoenix Mercury had a hot start in the first quarter, but the Minnesota Lynx\u00a0used a late run to pull ahead with a 22-19 lead after the first quarter.\u00a0<\/p>\n The teams were tied with 4 minutes left, but the Lynx used an 8-0 run to pull ahead.\u00a0The Lynx scored four points off the Mercury\u2019s four turnovers. Courtney Williams led all scorers with seven points in the quarter.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mercury guard\u00a0Monique Akoa Makani had a good start with five points off 2 of 3 shooting in the first 5:44 minutes of play. She drove and shot inside the paint over Alanna Smith.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Mercury players\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0disclose\u00a0the details about head coach Nate Tibbetts\u2019 halftime speech in Game 2, but Satou\u00a0Sabally\u00a0said it was \u201cnecessary heat\u201d for their first-half performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kahleah Copper added more insight at shootaround before Game 3 and said his urgency helped them overcome the Minnesota\u00a0Lynx.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think\u00a0he\u2019s been Mr. Nice Guy all season, so it was about time,\u201d Copper said.\u00a0\u201cI think we respect him and understand what the message was, so we came out a lot stronger in the second half.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n (This story has been updated to add new information.)<\/p>\n Reach the reporter at jenna.ortiz@arizonarepublic.com<\/a>, as well as @jennarortiz<\/a>\u00a0on X. Sign up for Azcentral Preps Now<\/a>. And be sure to subscribe to our daily sports newsletters<\/a>\u00a0so you don’t miss a thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Can Mercury break through Lynx defense? USAT’s Meghan Hall and Sam Cardona-Norberg break down Mercury\u2019s playoff chances against…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":258162,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[691,4545,4552,5229,5643,1587,1339,26817,49566,5616,2488,2487,66884,20022,5967,160,3663,1519,644,663,635,7233,50,450,1457,1589,1502,1425,1451,10440,10444,66883,66882,20021,62,1458,645,2490,4546,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,7223,2612,232,105313,2869,1707],"class_list":{"0":"post-258161","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-alyssa","10":"tag-alyssa-thomas","11":"tag-america","12":"tag-arizona","13":"tag-az","14":"tag-basketball","15":"tag-copper","16":"tag-courtney","17":"tag-courtney-williams","18":"tag-enabled","19":"tag-highlights","20":"tag-kahleah","21":"tag-kahleah-copper","22":"tag-lynx","23":"tag-mercury","24":"tag-minnesota","25":"tag-minnesota-lynx","26":"tag-modular","27":"tag-modular-story","28":"tag-new","29":"tag-new-visitors-az","30":"tag-news","31":"tag-overall","32":"tag-overall-positive","33":"tag-phoenix","34":"tag-phoenix-mercury","35":"tag-playoffs","36":"tag-positive","37":"tag-prospects","38":"tag-prospects-az","39":"tag-sabally","40":"tag-satou","41":"tag-satou-sabally","42":"tag-sports","43":"tag-sports-news","44":"tag-story","45":"tag-story-highlights-ai-enabled","46":"tag-thomas","47":"tag-united-states","48":"tag-united-states-of-america","49":"tag-unitedstates","50":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","51":"tag-us","52":"tag-usa","53":"tag-visitors","54":"tag-williams","55":"tag-wnba","56":"tag-wnba-playoffs","57":"tag-womens","58":"tag-womens-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}