Thomas' 2nd straight triple-double leads Mercury past Sun

PHOENIX (AP) — Alyssa Thomas had 13 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists for her second straight triple-double and Satou Sabally scored 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting as the Phoenix Mercury beat the Connecticut Sun 82-66 on Tuesday night.

Thomas has 14 career triple-doubles in the regular season and four more in the playoffs. There have been 50 triple-doubles in WNBA history (regular season and playoffs combined) and no other player has more than Sabrina Ionescu's four. Thomas, who had 10 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in an 83-67 win over Chicago on Sunday, also had consecutive triple-doubles in June 2023, as well as in Game 3 and Game 4 of the 2022 WNBA Finals.

DeWanna Bonner hit four 3-pointers and finished with 18 points for Phoenix (18-11), and Kahleah Copper scored 15.

Marina Mabrey led Connecticut (5-23) with 18 points, and Tina Charles scored 16. Rookie Leïla Lacan added 10 points, a season-high tying six steals and five rebounds. Lacan has at least one steal in eight consecutive games and has 25 steals in that span.

The Mercury never trailed and jumped to a 10-2 lead as Connecticut missed it's first nine field-goal attempts before Bria Hartley made a driving layup more than 4 1/2 minutes into the game. Phoenix limited the Sun to 13% (2 of 16) shooting and their lowest-scoring quarter of the season in the first and took a 26-6 in the second.

Charles hit a 3-pointer that capped a 12-2 run and cut the deficit to 30-22 with 4:35 left in the first half, but Connecticut never got closer.

Phoenix beat the Sun 83-75 on the road June 18.

The Mercury play the second of four straight home games Thursday against the Caitlin Clark-less Indiana Fever, and the Sun visit Los Angeles.