Alyssa Thomas notches triple-double as Mercury defeat Dallas Wings
· Yahoo Sports
Alyssa Thomas widened the gap as the WNBA’s all-time leader triple-doubles by recording her 30th against the Dallas Wings on Sept. 21, with 15 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists.
The player with the second-most? Wings forward Jessica Shepard with six.
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Shepard was on track to match Thomas in Monday's game at Mortgage Matchup Center, but finished four assists shy of a triple-double, posting 17 points, 19 rebounds and six assists.
Thomas had the defining assist to Kahleah Copper on a backdoor cut along the baseline, sealing an 87-86 win with 2.4 seconds left.
The Mercury (16-27) ran the same play a few seconds before, with Thomas setting up Natasha Mack to cut Dallas’ lead to one point.
“It’s funny because everybody knows the play,” Copper said. “But having that connection with AT, knowing she’s a great passer, I just try to be in the right spots and hope she’s going to throw it.”
Copper returned to the lineup after missing two games with a right groin injury following the FIBA World Cup break. Coach Nate Tibbetts also said Copper fell ill in Berlin, where she won gold with Team USA.
Late in the season, the Mercury, which have been eliminated from the playoffs, have leaned heavily on their younger players to evaluate next year’s roster. But the veteran core of Copper, Thomas and Mack logged more minutes than in the previous games against a hungry Dallas team looking to improve its playoff seeding.
Those veterans were key in erasing a 14-point deficit and snapping the Wings’ six-game winning streak.
“Everyone on the basketball side wants to finish this the right way and they’ve proven that,” Tibbetts said. “Ever since the World Cup, we came back and there are some non-playoff teams that have shut down a little bit. We have not done that and I’m proud of them for that.”
Several younger players have shown tremendous growth with the expanded opportunities, including guard Kara Dunn, who went 3-of-4 from 3-point range with 11 points against Dallas.
Dunn had more chances to grow her connection with Thomas against the Wings, as Thomas kicked out to her several times along the perimeter.
The 5-foot-11 guard played tough defense against Dallas’ physical team, including battling for a loose ball against a 6-foot-7 Li Yueru and earned a jump ball for the Mercury. The undrafted rookie out of USC also stole the ball out of Shepard’s hands and then went for a driving layup before being fouled by Shepard.
“She works hard each and every day, as do all of our young players,” Thomas said. “For people to get opportunities like that and to hit big shot after big shot, just really happy for her. This is probably a memory she’s going to remember in her career.”
Evaluating the current group of younger players has been important in the final stretch as Phoenix won’t have a first-round pick in the next draft after trading it to Los Angeles for guard Kelsey Plum at the deadline.
Guard Shay Ciezki, who also went undrafted this season, scored a career-high 22 points against the Portland Fire on Sept. 17.
Phoenix is now 2-1 following the break and have one game remaining in 2026, hosting the Las Vegas Aces on Thursday, Sept. 24, at 7 p.m.
Reach the reporter or send tips for stories at [email protected], as well as @jennarortiz on X.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Alyssa Thomas notches triple-double as Mercury defeat Dallas Wings