Rookie Monique Akoa Makani scored a season-high 21 points, Alyssa Thomas flirted with a triple-double and the Phoenix Mercury beat the New York Liberty 89-81 on Thursday despite a big night from Breanna Stewart.

The win was the fourth in a row for the Mercury, who handed the reigning WNBA champions their first home loss of the season.

Makani enjoyed the best night of her brief professional career by shooting 8 of 12 from the floor and adding six assists.

Thomas stuffed the stat sheet, accumulating 18 points, 15 rebounds, seven assists and two steals.

Phoenix outscored New York 25-16 in the fourth quarter, with the Mercury’s Sami Whitcomb scoring a team-high eight points in the final frame.

Stewart finished with 35 points for the Liberty but had just three in the fourth quarter.

Sabrina Ionescu had scored 34 points in both of her previous two games but had 16 points on 3-for-16 shooting on Thursday.

On Planet Mercury .... are you paying attention yet? pic.twitter.com/IG8sqGYWqZ

— Phoenix Mercury (@PhoenixMercury) June 20, 2025

Valkyries rally past Clark, Fever

Tiffany Hayes scored eight of her 14 points in a decisive fourth quarter, and the Golden State Valkyries rallied past the Indiana Fever 88-77.

Kayla Thornton had a team-high 16 points and hit a pair of key 3s down the stretch for the expansion Valkyries, who sold out their sixth straight home game.

Fever star Caitlin Clark uncharacteristically struggled with her shot, going 3 of 14 from the floor and 0 of 7 from 3-point range. She finished with 11 points, seven rebounds and nine assists.

Golden State outscored Indiana 33-18 in the fourth-quarter rally and were the much deeper team, with the Valkyries’ bench outscoring the Fever’s reserves 45-17.

Thursday’s result left both teams with a record of 6-6.