Sophia Young’s 3-point play lifts Silver Stars past Mercury

Young’s 3-point play lifts Silver Stars

SAN ANTONIO — Sophia Young completed a three-point play with 0.9 seconds left to give the San Antonio Silver Stars an 83-82 victory over the Phoenix Mercury on Sunday in a preview of their first-round playoff series.

After Phoenix’s DeWanna Bonner hit two free throws with 2.6 seconds to play, Young made a layup and was fouled by Bonner. Young made the free throw, and Phoenix turned the ball over on its inbound pass to end the game.

Young credited assistant coach Olaf Lange with the final play.

“Olaf drew up a play … and he tells me to catch the ball and dribble,” Young said. “I was like, ‘What do you mean, dribble? We didn’t have three seconds left,’ and he was like, ‘No, that’s a lot of time. Dribble and get to the basket.’

“So we came in and Roneeka (Hodges) was like, ‘Go get it, ’cause I’m gonna throw it.’ And I caught it and didn’t see anything else but the basket.”

WNBA scoring leader Diana Taurasi sat out for the second straight game for Phoenix to rest for the playoffs. Mercury coach Corey Gaines also held out forward Penny Taylor and greatly limited the other regulars’ minutes.

“I didn’t think were as focused as what we should have been coming into the game,” said Becky Hammon, who hit 6 of 10 from 3-point range and scored 30 points for the Silver Stars. “There’s a natural letup when Diana’s not playing and Penny’s not playing and Candice Dupree’s gonna get limited action. We’ve got to learn from this. When we come in and we’re not focused, we struggle with the second string.”

Michelle Snow had 22 points for the Silver Stars (14-20).

Bonner led the Mercury (15-19) with 20 points and 12 rebounds.

“It was a tough loss,” said Bonner. “They just finished stronger. But I think our team came out, played hard, played some great defense and got some good looks at the basket. We just came up short.”

The teams will open the playoff series Thursday night in Phoenix.