Phoenix Mercury frustrated with officiating in 4th quarter, fall to Aces

Phoenix Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts has learned many lessons throughout his first season as a head coach and one of them was staying composed with officiating.

Tibbetts used both of his coach’s challenges, winning one and losing another, but dealt with a no-call when Kahleah Copper drew contact from Las Vegas Aces guard Jackie Young in the final minute.

“It’s a fiery game. I think part of coaching at this level is showing players that you’re battling for them,” Tibbetts said. “When you play into the officials, it takes your mind off of trying to call the game. Some of the stuff that we saw tonight was just like, you got to fight for something.”

The Mercury stayed close with the Aces in the final minute, but fell 103-99 on Thursday at Footprint Center.

The Mercury (6-7) were eliminated from the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup before tip-off after the Seattle Storm won 92-84 over the Dallas Wings. The Minnesota Lynx clinched the championship berth for the in-season tournament against the defending Cup champion Liberty on June 25.

Brittney Griner led the Mercury with 25 points and nine rebounds, while Diana Taurasi added 22 points.

Controversial no-call in fourth

Two points separated the teams in the final minute, making every play matter. But one play ended up defining how the game unfolded.

With 46 seconds on the clock, Young drove into Copper and shoulder checked her before finishing with the layup to go up 99-95. Copper fell to the floor and looked for a call, but Tibbetts didn’t have any challenges for the play.

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Up until that play, Copper was leading the Mercury through a tight quarter with eight points. Not long after, Copper defended A’ja Wilson at the rim along with Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi with 25 seconds left and earned her sixth foul, exiting the game. Copper finished with 18 points.

“There’s a lot of things we could’ve controlled,” Mercury guard Sophie Cunningham said. “The refs were awful tonight. Absolutely horrible. You can’t miss that last call with Kah.”

A dynamic start

Based on the first 10 minutes, the Mercury looked like they could win by the 64-point margin needed to clinch the Commissioner’s Cup berth. And those 10 minutes were some of the most dominant from the Mercury.

The Mercury shut out every Aces player but Wilson on 11 shot attempts. Wilson accounted for 10 of the Aces’ 12 points in the quarter. Only Kelsey Plum helped with scoring with two points off free throws.

Griner’s early four points helped the Mercury get to an 11-2 run and set up the Mercury to shoot 61.1% (11-of-18) in the quarter. The Mercury finished with a 16-point lead.

Falling from long-range

The Mercury were outscored by 19 points in the second quarter and trailed 54-51 after the first half. The Aces went 10-for-10 from the 3-point line and erased a 16-point lead from the first quarter. Young scored 21 points in the entire quarter and went 5-for-5 from the 3.

Young, one of the 12 selected for Team USA in the Paris Olympics, gave a great preview of what she can do with 34 points on seven 3-pointers.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that,” Tibbetts said. “Give them credit. We weathered the storm… I don’t think we’re far away. I love where we’re headed. We had good stretches and bad stretches. We gave ourselves a chance to win at the end. I don’t think we’re that far away and that’s a good team.”

More: ‘You prepare so long for this’ Mercury’s Kahleah Copper gets emotional about Olympics

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 4th quarter officiating frustrating for Mercury in loss to Aces