Sun spoil Caitlin Clark's WNBA playoff debut with dominant win over Fever
Canada's Carleton helps Lynx defeat Mercury; Aces beat Storm; Liberty rout Dream
Alyssa Thomas had the 15th triple-double of her career to spoil Caitlin Clark's playoff debut as the Connecticut Sun beat the visiting Indiana Fever 93-69 on Sunday in Game 1 of their best-of-three series.
Thomas finished with 12 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds, earning her fourth post-season triple-double. Marina Mabrey led the third-seeded Sun with 27 points, 20 of which came in the second half. Her 27 points are the most by a reserve in the playoffs, according to ESPN.
Game 2 is Wednesday night in Connecticut with a potential decisive third game in Indiana on Friday night if necessary.
Clark, who earlier in the day was announced as the AP Rookie of the Year, finished with 11 points, recovering from a rough start. She also had eight assists. Kelsey Mitchell scored 21 points and Aliyah Boston added 17 points and 11 rebounds for Indiana.
The Sun came into the contest with 222 playoff games under their belt while the Fever had just 19, including none among the starters. This was Indiana's first appearance in the playoffs since 2016. Connecticut head coach Stephanie White was in charge of the Fever that year.
The lack of experience didn't seem to rattle the Fever early. It also probably helped that like most Fever road games this season, nearly half the crowd — many of whom were wearing Clark shirts — cheered on everything they did.
After a back-and-forth first 16 minutes, Indiana led 36-34 with 3:45 left in the first half. The Sun then took over, closing the opening 20 minutes on a 12-2 run.
DeWanna Bonner had four points and an emphatic block of a Clark layup during the spurt. Bonner finished the opening 20 minutes with 16 points. Clark had a quiet first half with just three points, making one of her nine shots.
She missed her first two shots of the third quarter before the Fever called timeout. Clark smacked the bench in frustration. That seemed to get her going as she made her next three shots to try and rally the Fever, but it wasn't enough as Mabrey matched her shot for shot, scoring 11 points in the third. Clark finished finished four for 17.
The first half also had a bit of everything with a stoppage 48 seconds into the game for Indiana to challenge a foul called on the wrong player. They were successful. About 45 seconds later Clark was accidently poked in the right eye by DiJonai Carrington and was down for a bit before walking off the court.
A few minutes later Tyasha Harris hurt her right leg while trying to defend a shot. She had to be helped off the court and later returned to the bench with that ankle heavily wrapped.
Carleton hits big shot as Lynx beat Mercury
Napheesa Collier scored a playoff career-high 38 points and the Minnesota Lynx blew a 23-point lead before rallying late to beat the visiting Phoenix Mercury 102-95 on Sunday in Game 1 of a best-of-three series.
Minnesota, the Western Conference champions and No. 2 seed, turned a 32-19 first-quarter lead into a 50-27 advantage with 5:35 left before halftime. Phoenix whittled nine points off its deficit, trailing 56-42 at intermission, and closed within 77-69 heading to the fourth quarter.
Kahleah Copper scored five points in a 10-2 run and her three-pointer followed by two free throws by Brittney Griner gave seventh-seeded Phoenix its first lead since scoring the first four points of the game. Natasha Cloud's layup put the Mercury on top 92-91 with 2:06 left to play, but Myisha Hines-Allen answered with a layup and Canada's Bridget Carleton hit a three-pointer in a 9-0 spurt to pull out the victory.
WATCH | Carleton seals playoff opener for Lynx:
Collier sank 11 of 19 shots from the floor with three three-pointers and 13 of 14 free throws for Minnesota. She added six rebounds and four assists. Kayla McBride hit three three-pointers and all seven of her foul shots, scoring 20. Carleton of Chatham, Ont., had 12 points, six boards and four assists, and Hines-Allen added 10 points, five rebounds and three assists off the bench.
Cloud had 33 points, matching her post-season high, and 10 assists to lead Phoenix. Diana Taurasi made half of her 10 three-point attempts and scored 21. Copper added 16 points, and Griner finished with 10 points and six rebounds.
Collier finished four points shy of Breanna Stewart's playoff-record 42-point effort. Stewart scored 42 points while playing for the Seattle Storm in a 97-92 loss to the Las Vegas Aces in Game 4 of a Western Conference semifinal in 2022.
Minnesota won three of four games — all by double digits — against Phoenix during the regular season. The Mercury beat the visiting Lynx 81-80 for their lone victory.
The Lynx will host Game 2 at the Target Center on Wednesday. Phoenix will host Game 3 on Thursday if necessary.
3-time MVP Wilson, Aces weather Storm
A'ja Wilson scored 21 points and blocked five shots after earning her record-tying third MVP award earlier Sunday, and the two-time defending-champion Las Vegas Aces held the Seattle Storm to a pair of free throws in the fourth quarter in pulling away for a 78-67 victory in Game 1 of the best-of-three series.
Wilson made just 1 of 8 shots as Las Vegas missed 16 of 18 altogether and fell behind 18-9 after one quarter. She had four points at halftime and Seattle led 42-38 after Jordan Horston and Mercedes Russell both made two free throws in the final 43 seconds.
But the third quarter was a different story as Wilson sank seven shots with a 3-pointer, accounting for 15 of the Aces' 26 points. Skylar Diggins-Smith had a three-point play in the final minute and the Storm took a 65-64 lead into the final period.
Kelsey Plum missed her first seven shots, but she had the first basket of the final quarter at the 7:04 mark to give Las Vegas the lead. Seattle missed its first seven shots, and back-to-back layups from Wilson and Tiffany Hayes pushed the Aces' lead to 70-65 with 4:49 left to play. Diggins-Smith hit two free throws for the Storm's first points to get them within three, but Chelsea Gray had two baskets in an 8-0 run to wrap up the victory. Seattle missed all 13 of its shots and turned the ball over six times in the final 10 minutes.
Hayes finished with 20 points and five steals off the bench for fourth-seeded Las Vegas. Gray had 16 points and seven assists. Jackie Young added 12 points and seven rebounds. Wilson had eight boards. She joined Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie and Lauren Jackson as the league's only three-time MVPs.
Diggins-Smith led fifth-seeded Seattle with 16 points and eight assists. Gabby Williams finished with 14 points and eight rebounds, while Nneka Ogwumike had 13 points and 10 rebounds. Horston had 10 points off the bench.
Seattle beat Las Vegas by 13 the first time they met this season, but the Aces closed with three straight victories over the Storm — two by double digits.
Las Vegas will host Game 2 on Tuesday. Seattle will host Game 3 on Thursday if necessary.
Liberty cruise past Dream
Leonie Fiebich hit four three-pointers and scored a career-high 21 points on seven-of-eight shooting, Breanna Stewart added 20 points and 11 rebounds and the New York Liberty never trailed Sunday in their 83-69 win over the visiting Atlanta Dream in the opening game of their best-of-three series in the first round of the WNBA playoffs.
New York can sweep the series with a win in Game 2 on Tuesday in New York. Game 3, if necessary, is Thursday in Atlanta.
The Liberty — who made each of their first six field-goal attempts, including four three-pointers — jumped to a 13-4 lead. Allisha Gray was fouled on a jumper and hit the and-1 free throw to cut Atlanta's deficit to four with 5:33 left in the first quarter, but the Liberty scored the next 14 points — the final seven by Sabrina Ionescu — to take an 18-point lead. The Dream went scoreless for more than four minutes before Tina Charles hit a fade-away jumper to spark a 7-2 spurt that trimmed their deficit to 29-16 going into the second quarter.
New York made eight of 11 from the field, five of six from the three-point range and eight of eight from the free-throw line while outrebounding the Dream 11-3 in the first period. Atlanta, which shot 35.3 per cent (six of 17) and went 0 for 6 from behind the arc, trailed by double figures for the final 33-plus minutes.
Rhyne Howard scored 14 points and Charles added 12 for Atlanta.
The Dream beat New York 78-67 on Thursday in the regular-season finale to clinch the eighth and final playoff spot — and a date with the top-seeded Liberty in the first round. Atlanta shot 50 per cent (31 of 62) from the field.
Fiebich scored 15 points — one shy of the rookie's season high — on perfect shooting in the first half, making five of five from the field, two of two from behind the arc and three of three from the free-throw line. Ionescu added 14 points and New York took a 48-30 lead into halftime.
The Liberty, who seek their first WNBA championship, made their fifth WNBA Finals appearance last season but lost 3-1 to the Las Vegas Aces.
New York's Courtney Vandersloot had four points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Ionescu finished with 17 points and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton scored 10 for the Liberty.
With files from CBC Sports
