Satou Sabally poured in 27 points and Alyssa Thomas added 20 for the Phoenix Mercury, who led wire-to-wire in an 81-59 season-opening win over the visiting Seattle Storm on Saturday.
Sabally came down awkwardly on her ankle in the opening quarter but shook it off on her way to scoring the most points by a player in a Mercury debut.
Thomas, who came over in a four-team trade in February, and Sabally proved to be a one-two punch for the Mercury (1-0). They more than made up for the absence of last year’s leading scorer, Kahleah Copper, who averaged 21.1 points per game but is expected to be out four to six weeks due to a left knee issue.
Alexa Held chipped in 11 points for Phoenix, which shot 51.7 percent from the floor.
Skylar Diggins scored 21 points for Seattle (0-1). Nneka Ogwumike added 12 for the Storm, who shot only 33.3 percent from the field.
Thomas staked the Mercury to an early lead, driving between two defenders for a layup that pushed the advantage to 10-2 with 6:49 to play in the opening quarter.
Diggins scored off back-to-back layups, cutting the Seattle deficit to 10-6 with 6:01 left. But the Mercury responded with a 10-0 run, highlighted by 3-pointers from Sabally and Kathryn Westbeld, giving Phoenix a double-digit advantage with 1:55 remaining.
Seattle stayed in the game thanks to nine points off five turnovers, trailing 23-15 after one quarter.
The Storm capitalized on an 8-0 run fueled by Diggins, who hit two free throws and knocked down a jumper to close the gap to 33-27 with 4:59 remaining in the half.
Phoenix wasn’t fazed and closed the opening half on an 8-3 run that swung the momentum back in its favor and put it on top 41-30 at the half.
Up 60-46 after three, Phoenix grabbed its first 20-point lead when Kalani Brown scored off a layup to make it 73-53 with 4:29 left in the game.
–Field Level Media
