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08/22 23:29 CDT Reese has career night with 31 points, Dream hold off Mercury 99-89 despite Copper's 38 points Reese has career night with 31 points, Dream hold off Mercury 99-89 despite Copper's 38 points PHOENIX (AP) --- Angel Reese scored a career-high 31 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for her 25th double-double of the season and the Atlanta Dream clinched a playoff berth with a 99-89 win over the Phoenix Mercury on Saturday night. Rhyne Howard added 20 points, Allisha Gray had 17 and Jordin Canada 12 for the Dream (24-13), who have won five of their last six games. They moved a half-game ahead of Indiana, which lost earlier in night, for the fourth seed, with seven games to go for Atlanta. Kahleah Copper had 38 points for the Mercury (13-24), who were in the WNBA Finals last season, but were eliminated from the playoff chase with the loss. Alyssa Thomas had her 22nd regular-season triple-double with 11 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists. Thomas also has six triple-doubles in the playoffs. DeWanna Bonner added 12 points. Reese, a 43% shooter for the season, was 14 of 21 from the field after going 9 of 9 the previous game. Her previous career high for points was 27 in 2024 when she was a rookie with Chicago. She has set the Atlanta single-season record for double-doubles and is three shy of the league record. Howard hit four 3-pointers as the Dream led 14-3 less than four minutes into the game. Atlanta led 29-18 after one quarter and 50-35 at the half. With Copper scoring 17 points in the third quarter the Mercury got within one point before the Dream took a 73-68 lead into the fourth quarter. Phoenix made 13 of 22 shots in the third quarter after making just 10 of 29 in the first half.

Up next Dream: Finish a four-game West Coast road trip at Los Angeles on Monday. Mercury: Home against Washington on Tuesday and Thursday. ___ AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

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