WNBA Wrap: Thomas Notches Another Triple-double In Mercury's Win

Alyssa Thomas had 13 points, 12 rebounds and a career-high-tying 16 assists for her 17th career triple-double, and the Phoenix Mercury beat the Golden State Valkyries 81-72 on Friday night.

Thomas secured her sixth triple-double of the season on a rebound with 8:59 remaining, and she assisted on Monique Akoa Makani’s 3-pointer at the other end for a 71-56 lead. Thomas tied her 2023 record for the most triple-doubles by a WNBA player during a single season.

Akoa Makani had a team-high 18 points with four 3-pointers for Phoenix (22-14). DeWanna Bonner also made four of the Mercury's 14 3s and scored 14 points. Phoenix was coming off an 83-61 loss at Las Vegas on Thursday - its lowest scoring game of the season.

Janelle Salaun led Golden State (18-18) with 15 points and Veronica Burton had 11 points and eight assists. Tiffany Hayes had a violent collision with Kahleah Copper with 7:17 left in the third quarter and did not return.

Shepard does it all in Lynx’s win

Jessica Shepard had the second triple-double in franchise history and Kayla McBride scored 29 points to help the Minnesota Lynx to a 95-90 victory over the Indiana Fever.

The league-best Lynx (29-7) snapped a two-game losing streak and are 7-3 in their last 10 games.

Shepard finished with 22 points on 10-of-11 shooting with 11 rebounds and 11 assists while playing all 40 minutes. She joined Moriah Jefferson as the only Lynx players to record triple-doubles in franchise history.

She completed her triple-double in just 21:57 of action, the fastest in WNBA history. Previously, the record was set by Seattle’s Skylar Diggins on July 28, at 22:51 of play.

McBride added five assists and was 10 for 19 from the field. Natisha Hiedeman had 17 points in 26 minutes off the bench.

Kelsey Mitchell scored 27 points to lead Indiana (19-17), and Lexie Hull had a career-high 23.

Malonga helps Storm rout Wings

Rookie Dominique Malonga had 22 points and nine rebounds, Erica Wheeler added 17 points and the Seattle Storm rolled to a 96-60 rout of the Dallas Wings.

It was Malonga’s fourth game with at least 15 points and five rebounds off the bench, the most by a WNBA reserve this season.

Tiffany Mitchell added 11 points off the bench for Seattle (19-18) and Ezi Magbegor grabbed her 1,200th career rebound, the fourth most in franchise history. Nneka Ogwumike made two steals in the first half for her 200th career multi-steal game, the fourth most in league history behind Tamika Catchings, Ticha Penicheiro and Sue Bird.

Maddy Siegrist led Dallas (9-28) with 12 points. Paige Bueckers scored eight of Dallas’ first 12 points but finished with just 11 - all in the first half.

Bueckers was coming off a WNBA rookie record 44 points on Wednesday. She became the first player in league history to score more than 40 points while shooting 80% from the field. But Dallas lost 81-80 on a buzzer-beater by Kelsey Plum and was eliminated from playoff contention.