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Aces adjust on defense late to win WNBA Finals opener vs. Mercury

AP photo by John Locher / Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas, center, is pressured by NaLyssa Smith (3) and Jackie Young of the host Las Vegas Aces during Game 1 of the WNBA Finals on Friday night.
AP photo by John Locher / Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas, center, is pressured by NaLyssa Smith (3) and Jackie Young of the host Las Vegas Aces during Game 1 of the WNBA Finals on Friday night. AP photo by John Locher / Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas, center, is pressured by NaLyssa Smith (3) and Jackie Young of the host Las Vegas Aces during Game 1 of the WNBA Finals on Friday night.

By MARK ANDERSON / The Associated Press 4 min read

LAS VEGAS — The Las Vegas Aces hadn’t spent a lot of time working on zone defense, so what better time than the fourth quarter of a WNBA Finals game?

It worked out perfectly.

The zone cooled off the hot-shooting Phoenix Mercury just enough to allow the Aces, who received 21 points each from Dana Evans and A’ja Wilson, to rally for an 89-86 victory Friday night as the title series got underway.

Wilson scored 12 points over the final 14 minutes, and Satou Sabally missed a long 3-pointer with two seconds left that would have tied it for Phoenix.

Game 2 of the WNBA Finals, which is a best-of-seven series for for the first time after previously using a best-of-five format, is Sunday in Las Vegas. The Aces have home-field advantage by virtue of their No. 2 seed at the start of the playoffs, while Phoenix is the No. 4 seed.