Alyssa Thomas makes the history of the qualifiers in WNBA while Mercury cancels the hero of defense freedom
The Venicks Mercury team, the New York Liberty defense by winning 79-73 on Friday to win a place in the semi-finals of 2025 WNBA. They will take the first seed in Minnesota Linux on Sunday at 5 pm East time.
This is the first time that mercury has advanced from the first round since 2021, and they did this behind a triple knowledge of 20 points, 11 rebounds and 11 passes from the MVP Alyssa Thomas candidate.
“We are not ready until this ends,” Thomas said during the post -game interview. “We got a special group. We want to continue playing. Tonight was only about this victory.”
Freedom was the candidates to win this series and took game 1 with a score of 76-69 in additional time, but Mercury forced the 3 game with 25 points winning in New York.
Mercury came out with a lot of energy on Friday and surpassed New York in the first half, as shown by 28-15 in rebound balls after the first two quarters. Freedom raised the heat defensively in the third quarter and made Phoenix to only 15 points, but only Breen Stewart managed to score in New York in the last 10 minutes of the game.
Minnesota will be an opponent in the difficult semi -finals as Lynx got the first seeded in the qualifiers by being the most consistent team throughout the year. The icon went 3-1 against mercury during the normal season, but Thomas said that her team would be stronger this time.
“We haven’t seen our full strength,” Thomas said during the post -game interview. “We are ready, we are ready to play.”
Thomas continues to make history
There were only seven times a trilogy in the history of the qualifiers in WNBA, and Thomas owns five of them. The other two belong to Sherrill Soyop and Courtney Vandrezlot. Thomas is the first to do it with at least 20 points. On Friday, it also had a three -year -old in 2025.
“Is this the first trilogy of the year?” Judaizing the Phoenix coach jokingly. “I think we are just a kind of getting used to it. That’s just what you do. It affects the game in several different ways. It is concerned with one thing, and this wins. When you get a player of her caliber with a lot of pride in a game and do everything it takes, you will have a great team.”
Full team effort
Thomas is the team captain, but the energy came from many players. Sato scored 23 points and 12 counterattacks in the qualifiers, although she joined her double appearances “modest” compared to what Thomas did.
Kahlia Cooper got almost one with 12 points and nine counterattacks. Meanwhile, Sami Wittbum gave the team 13 points of the bench and helped Cooper the last field goal at night. Among the most prominent events at night is Diwana Boner, up to eight paintings to pass Candes Parker (610) for the first time on the list of the Play of Heights.
“This is the reason why we tried to get her to return home to Phoenix in the last two bad guys,” said Tipts about Bonner. “I watched our game on the other night and heard what people were saying on TV about all of its awards, and what I did in the qualifiers … We are very lucky to exist. It was great, we loved her existence. It is a big reason because we are.”
Stewart deserves credit
Stewart has suffered a MCL sprain on her left knee during game 2, but she decided to fit on Friday and effortful effort. Although most freedom has come out, Stewart brought energy from the beginning and played with the same intensity for all 35 minutes. She left everything on Earth and recorded all 14 points in New York in the fourth quarter.
Stewart finished tonight with 30 points, nine counterattacks, three decisive passes, stolen and two masses. She also got a lot of respect from her opponents.
“When the qualifying time, you don’t want to go home. You will give everything you have,” said Thomas about Stewart. “Stewie’s The Ultimate Comporitor. I showed it day after day, especially with all the injuries that you were exposed to. You have to give her a lot of credit to what you were able to do.”