SEATTLE (AP) \u2014 Alyssa Thomas had 19 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds for her 16th career triple-double in the regular season, and the Phoenix Mercury beat the Seattle Storm 85-82 on Sunday. <\/p>\n
Thomas has five of the 10 triple-doubles in the WNBA this season and 20 of the 53 (counting regular season and playoffs) in league history. <\/p>\n
Kahleah Copper scored 17 points and Sami Whitcomb added 15 for Phoenix (20-13). Satou Sabally had 11 points and 10 rebounds, and DeWanna Bonner scored 10 points. <\/p>\n
Nneka Ogwumike led Seattle (17-18) with 24 points and Skylar Diggins scored 14. Gabby Williams had 13 points and seven assists, and Erica Wheeler added 11 points. <\/p>\n
Ogwumike poked the ball away from Whitcomb and made a follow shot moments later to tie it at 75-all with 3:57 left in the game \u2014 the first tie since 2-2. Wheeler hit a 3-pointer with 2:20 remaining that gave the Storm their first lead of the game. <\/p>\n
Thomas slipped a pass to Copper for a wide-open layup, Copper added a driving layup and Thomas hit a short jumper to make it 83-78 with 21 seconds to play. <\/p>\n
Diggins had two assists and moved into a tie with Becky Hammon for seventh in WNBA history with 1,708 career assists. <\/p>\n
Phoenix is 9-0 when at least five players score in double figures this season and is 17-1 when leading going into the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
Sue Bird, who helped the Storm win four championships and had a WNBA-record 3,234 assists, had a statue<\/a> in her likeness unveiled outside of Climate Pledge Arena before the game. The franchise’s career leading scorer with 6,803 points, Bird is the first player to have a statue dedicated to her by a WNBA franchise.<\/p>\n The Mercury play Tuesday at Golden State. The Storm travels to Chicago to play the Sky on Tuesday. <\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n