Rookie Lexi Held scores season-high 24 points as Mercury close on 18-1 run to beat Valkyries 86-77

PHOENIX (AP) — Rookie Lexi Held scored a season-high 24 points, Satou Sabally had 19 points, seven rebounds and five assists and the Phoenix Mercury closed on an 18-1 run to beat the Golden State Valkyries 86-77 on Thursday night.

Phoenix trailed 76-68 with 4:04 remaining.

Held put the Mercury ahead 77-76 with 1:11 remaining on a deep 3-pointer. After Golden State went 1 for 2 at the free-throw line, Sabally rebounded her own miss and put it in while being fouled. Sabally made the free throw for a three-point play and an 80-77 advantage with 33.3 left.

Golden State guard Veronica Burton missed a wide-open layup at the other end and Sabally was fouled before making two free throws for a five-point lead. The Valkyries turned it over on their next two inbound plays, and the Mercury made four straight free throws to seal it.

Held was 7 for 15 from the field, including 4 for 9 behind the arc, and 6 for 6 at the free-throw line for the best scoring output by a rookie this season, passing Paige Bueckers' mark of 21.

Phoenix (6-3) improved to 5-1 at home — a franchise best to begin a season.

Sami Whitcomb added nine points before fouling out late for Phoenix, which was without starters Kahleah Copper (left knee) and Alyssa Thomas (left calf).

Burton led Golden State (2-5) with 16 points, going 9 for 11 at the free-throw line. Temi Fagbenle had 12 points and 10 rebounds. Kayla Thornton, Cecilia Zandalasini and Julie Vanloo each scored 10.

Megan McConnell, sister of NBA guard T.J. McConnell, was wearing his No. 9 Indiana Pacers jersey on the bench after getting injured in Phoenix's loss to Minnesota on Tuesday. He was seen arriving at the NBA Finals wearing her No. 16 Mercury jersey.

AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

Phoenix Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts shouts at officials during the second half of a WNBA basketball game against the Golden State Valkyries Thursday, June 5, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Phoenix Mercury guard Sami Whitcomb (33) celebrates a score against the Golden State Valkyries with Mercury forward Satou Sabally (0) during the second half of a WNBA basketball game Thursday, June 5, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Golden State Valkyries forward Stephanie Talbot, left, is unable steal the ball from Phoenix Mercury center Murjanatu Musa, right, during the second half of a WNBA basketball game Thursday, June 5, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Phoenix Mercury forward Satou Sabally celebrates a 3-pointer by Mercury's Lexi Held during the second half of a WNBA basketball game against the Golden State Valkyries Thursday, June 5, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Phoenix Mercury forward Satou Sabally (0) celebrates a made 3-pointer by Mercury guard Lexi Held (1) during the second half of a WNBA basketball game against the Golden State Valkyries Thursday, June 5, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado comes to the White House on Thursday to discuss her country's future with President Donald Trump even after he publicly dismissed her credibility to take over after an audacious U.S. military raid captured then-President Nicolás Maduro.

Trump has raised doubts about his stated commitment to backing democratic rule in Venezuela. His administration has signaled its willingness to work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president and, along with others in the deposed leader’s inner circle, remains in charge of day-to-day governmental operations.

In endorsing Rodríguez so far, Trump has sidelined Machado, who has long been a face of resistance in Venezuela and sought to cultivate relationships with Trump and key administration voices like Secretary of State Marco Rubio among the American right wing in a gamble to ally herself with the U.S. government.

The White House says Machado sought the face-to-face meeting with Trump without setting expectations for what would occur. Her party is widely believed to have won 2024 elections rejected by Maduro. Machado previously offered to share with Trump the Nobel Peace Prize she won last year, an honor he has coveted.

Machado plans to have a meeting at the Senate following her lunch with Trump, who has called her “a nice woman” while indicating they might not touch on major issues in their talks Thursday.

Her Washington swing began after U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says had ties to Venezuela. It is part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil after U.S. forces seized Maduro and his wife at a heavily guarded compound in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges.

The White House says Venezuela has been fully cooperating with the Trump administration since Maduro’s ouster.

Rodríguez, the acting president, herself has adopted a less strident position toward Trump and his “America First” policies toward the Western Hemisphere, saying she plans to continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro — a move thought to have been made at the behest of the Trump administration. Venezuela released several Americans this week.

Trump, a Republican, said Wednesday that he had a “great conversation” with Rodríguez, their first since Maduro was ousted.

“We had a call, a long call. We discussed a lot of things,” Trump said during an Oval Office bill signing. “And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”

Even before indicating the willingness to work with Venezuela's interim government, Trump was quick to snub Machado. Just hours after Maduro's capture, Trump said of Machado that “it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country.”

Machado has steered a careful course to avoid offending Trump, notably after winning last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, which Trump wanted to win himself. She has since thanked Trump. Her offer to share the peace prize with him was rejected by the Nobel Institute.

Machado’s whereabouts have been largely unknown since she went into hiding early last year after being briefly detained in Caracas. She briefly reappeared in Oslo, Norway, in December after her daughter received the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.

The industrial engineer and daughter of a steel magnate began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when the nongovernmental organization she co-founded, Súmate, promoted a referendum to recall then-President Hugo Chávez. The initiative failed, and Machado and other Súmate executives were charged with conspiracy.

A year later, she drew the anger of Chávez and his allies again for traveling to Washington to meet President George W. Bush. A photo showing her shaking hands with Bush in the Oval Office lives in the collective memory. Chávez considered Bush an adversary.

Almost two decades later, she marshaled millions of Venezuelans to reject Chávez’s successor, Maduro, for another term in the 2024 election. But ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared him the winner despite ample credible evidence to the contrary. Ensuing anti-government protests ended in a brutal crackdown by state security forces.

Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela, and Janetsky from Mexico City. AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

FILE - U.S. President George Bush, right, meets with Maria Corina Machado, executive director of Sumate, a non-governmental organization that defends Venezuelan citizens' political rights, in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, May 31, 2005. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures to supporters during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, file)