Liberty defeat Fever for 1st 2-0 start since 2016

Betnijah Laney scored 20 points and Sabrina Ionescu scored 12 and New York beat Indiana 73-65 on Sunday.

Michaela Onyenwere scored 11 points and Jazmine Jones 10 for New York, which hasn't won its first two games to start a season since 2016.

After Kelsey Mitchell's 3-pointer brought the Fever to within 20-15 with 5:05 left in the first quarter, New York closed the quarter with an 11-3 run.

The Liberty led 41-35 at halftime before Danielle Robinson made a pair of free throws to reduce Indiana's deficit to four early in the third but the Fever never got closer.

Mitchell paced Indiana (0-2) with 16 points, Danielle Robinson added 13 and Tiffany Mitchell 12. Jantel Lavender grabbed 16 rebounds and Teaira McCowan 10 rebounds.

Bonner scores 27 points, Sun beat Mercury

DeWanna Bonner scored 27 points against her former team to help the Connecticut Sun hold off the Phoenix Mercury 86-78 on Sunday night.

Bonner, who played her first nine WNBA seasons with Phoenix, made a 3-pointer with 2:27 left to give Connecticut (2-0) the lead for good at 76-73, sparking a 7-0 run. The Mercury (1-1) cut it to three, but the Sun's Briann January and Brionna Jones made baskets in the final minute.

Natisha Hiedeman added a career-high 17 points for Connecticut. January had 15 points and Jonquel Jones had 14 points and 13 rebounds.

Diana Taurasi had 19 points for the Mercury. Down 13 in the third quarter, Phoenix took the lead at 68-66 when Taurasi made the second of back-to-back 3-pointers with 5:54 left in the fourth quarter.

Skylar Diggins-Smith added 18 points and Brittney Griner had 16 for the Mercury.