WNBA scores, takeaways: Mercury, Liberty cruise to wins, Angel Reese makes more history

The 2024 WNBA season resumed on Thursday night with a trio of games that were altogether rather uncompetitive. Early on, the Phoenix Mercury crushed the Chicago Sky in Kahleah Copper’s return to Chicago and the Minnesota Lynx dominated the fourth quarter to run away from the Washington Mystics. Finally, the New York Liberty made easy work of the Los Angeles Sparks. 

Here are the final scores from each game:

• Phoenix Mercury 85, Chicago Sky 65
• Minnesota Lynx 79, Washington Mystics 68
• New York Liberty 103, Los Angeles Sparks 68

And now, some key takeaways:

Copper makes a statement in return to Chicago

Kahleah Copper spent the last seven seasons in Chicago, making three All-Star Games and winning Finals MVP in 2021. With the team trending downwards since the championship run, Copper requested a trade out of town and was sent to Phoenix in the winter. 

Strangely, this was the first time that the Sky and Mercury met this season, making this Copper’s first game back in her former home. She immediately showed the Chicago fans what they were missing by pouring in 13 points in the first quarter alone, more than the Sky scored as a team. 

Copper finished the night with 29 points on 12-of-19 from the field to lead the Mercury to a comfortable win. 

Griner goes off

Brittney Griner is fresh off winning a third gold medal alongside her teammates, Kahleah Copper and Diana Taurasi, and gave the Sky’s young frontcourt a reminder of what it takes to be a true superstar in this league. 

Griner targetd Kamilla Cardoso on the first two possessions of the game, and never looked back. She was dominant on both sides of the ball, and finished with 23 points, nine rebounds, six assists, two steals and five blocks on 10-of-12 shooting. 

In the process, Griner became the first player in Mercury history to have at least 20 points, five rebounds, five assists and five blocks in a game. Only six other players have put up that line in a game in league history: Tamika Catchings, Candace Parker, Jessica Breland, Breanna Stewart, Napheesa Collier and A’ja Wilson. 

Reese makes more history

Angel Reese has been a rebounding machine during her rookie season and already set the record for the longest double-double steak at 15 games. She was back at it again with another stellar effort on the glass — both offensive and defensive. 

Reese finished with 11 points and 15 rebounds and now has six games this season with at least 15 boards. Furthermore, after another eight offensive rebounds against the Mercury, she set the Sky’s single-season franchise record in that category. For the season, she now has 120 offensive rebounds, surpassing Sylvia Fowle’s previous mark of 117. 

After the game, however, Reese was uninterested in the record due to her poor shooting performance (4-of-14 from the field) and another loss for the Sky. “I don’t want to hear about no record,” a frustrated Reese said. 

Lynx lock down Mystics in fourth quarter

The Lynx looked a bit out of sorts in their first game back, which was perhaps not surprising considering that Napheesa Collier, Bridget Carleton and Alanna Smith all participated in the 2024 Paris Olympics, as did their head coach, Cheryl Reeve. 

By the fourth quarter, though, they got it together, particularly on the defensive end. They were all over the place and afforded the Mystics no room to operate. Over the final 10 minutes, the Lynx outscored the Mystics, 21-10, by limiting them to 3-of-16 shooting and forcing six turnovers. 

All season long, the Lynx have been one of the best defensive teams in the league, and they proved it again on Thursday. After this win they boast a 93.0 defensive rating. 

Liberty get third win of at least 35 points

The Liberty have been the best team in the league all season long, and they proved as much with a blowout win over the Sparks. They jumped out to an early 10-0 advantage, were up by double digits for the final 34 minutes and led by as much as 40 at one point. 

The 35-point win was their third by at least that many points this season, which is a WNBA single-season record. The other 11 teams combined have one 30-point win all season. 

Breanna Stewart led the way in this one, finishing with 27 points and four rebounds in just 20 minutes. Likewise, Sabrina Ionescu didn’t have to play much to rack up 18 points, four rebounds and six assists. As a team, the Liberty made 15 3s and shot 50% from behind the arc. 

With this latest win, the Liberty are now three games clear of the Connecticut Sun in the race for the No. 1 seed, and own the tiebreaker between the two clubs.