Two hours before tipoff of the opening game of the WNBA finals, Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon praised her reserves as the “best overall bench we’ve had since I’ve been here", with that claim quickly proving to be correct. 

Dana Evans and Jewell Loyd powered Las Vegas to an 89-86 win over the Phoenix Mercury on Friday, combining for 39 points and helping the Aces’ bench outscore the Mercury’s 41-16.

Evans scored 21 while Loyd added 18, making them just the fifth bench duo in finals history to each record 15+ points in the same game.

Phoenix had control early behind Kahleah Copper’s 19 first-half points, but the Aces clawed back late. Alyssa Thomas missed two crucial free throws with 24.6 seconds remaining — the first time in WNBA playoff history a player has missed a pair of potential game-tying attempts in the final two minutes.

The Aces became just the second team in Finals history to win with two of their top three scorers coming off the bench. That cushion was needed, with Jackie Young (10 points, 3-for-13) and Chelsea Gray (eight points, 2-for-7) struggling to score.

DANA 3VANS APPR3CIATION POST! pic.twitter.com/le9vX3tlex

— Las Vegas Aces (@LVAces) October 4, 2025

“We have weapons. We want to use them all because we’re harder to guard that way,” Hammon said.

“It was just a really great time for our bench to come up and have a big game … oh my goodness, our bench was huge."

MVP A’ja Wilson put up 21 points and 10 rebounds, delivering the first-ever 20-10-5-0 stat line in a finals game.

“We were able to kind of play on the string, and I think that gave us the momentum to then play out of it," Wilson admitted. 

Discussing Evans' performance, with the guard posting five made threes, tying the finals record for most off the bench, Wilson said: "Dana's our battery. She makes us play at a different pace.

"I told her we go as she goes, and that's a quick pace, but we're going to always try to follow her, because we know she's very hard to stop in this league."