Kahleah Copper scores 23 points in the 1st half as Mercury beat Storm for 3rd straight win

Kahleah Copper scored 23 of her 30 points in the first half, and Valeriane Ayayi added 18 points in the win.

Jul 3, 2026, 8:22 AM Updated: 12:30 pm

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Kahleah Copper scored 23 of her 30 points in the first half, Valeriane Ayayi added 18 points and the Phoenix Mercury beat the Seattle Storm 90-67 on Thursday night for their third straight victory.

Copper was 9 of 12 from the field in the first half to help Phoenix (8-13) build a 55-36 lead. Copper scored her first points of the second half with 8:39 left for a 75-60 lead. She finished 12 of 21 from the field.

Kah came out firing 🎯

Kahleah Copper scored 23 of her game-high 30 points in the first half, adding 7 REB and 3 AST to lead the Mercury to their third straight win!#WNBASeason30 pic.twitter.com/8V168OxCO9

— WNBA (@WNBA) July 3, 2026

Lexi Held had 17 points and a career-high five 3-pointers for Phoenix. Alyssa Thomas had nine points, 13 rebounds and nine assists, and DeWanna Bonner was held to six points on 3-of-10 shooting.

Bonner is seven points from being the third player to reach 8,000 career points in WNBA (Diana Taurasi and Tina Charles).

Awa Fam and Natisha Hiedeman each scored 13 points for Seattle (5-16), which dropped to 1-9 away from home this season. Flau’jae Johnson and Jade Melbourne had 11 apiece. Seattle was outrebounded 40-29.

Ezi Magbegor made her season debut for Seattle after missing the first 20 games with a foot injury. She had eight points in 17 minutes.