Alyssa Thomas has 23 points as Phoenix Mercury win fifth straight game

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Alyssa Thomas has 23 points as Phoenix Mercury win fifth straight game

2025-09-03 12:16 Last Updated At：12:20

PHOENIX (AP) — Alyssa Thomas had 23 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, DeWanna Bonner added 19 points off the bench and the Phoenix Mercury won their fifth straight game with an 85-79 victory over the Indiana Fever on Tuesday night.

Phoenix (26-14), which had already clinched a playoff spot, moved into a second-place tie with Las Vegas (26-14) and Atlanta (26-14). The Mercury close the regular season against Washington, Connecticut, Los Angeles and Dallas.

Kelsey Mitchell had 29 points and five 3-pointers for Indiana (21-20). Lexie Hull added 18 points and Aliyah Boston had 11 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Caitlin Clark missed her 19th straight game due to a right groin injury.

Satou Sabally added 13 points, Kahleah Copper scored 11 and Sami Whitcomb had 10 points and seven assists for Phoenix. Natasha Mack grabbed 10 rebounds. Bonner was 6 of 11 from the field against the team she played nine games for earlier this season.

Phoenix led 54-39 at halftime after closing on a 10-0 run, capped by Monique Akoa Makani's 3-pointer with 2.2. seconds left.

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

A South Korean court sentences Yoon to 5 years in prison on charges related to martial law decree

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to five years in prison Friday in the first verdict from eight criminal trials over the martial law debacle that forced him out of office and other allegations.

Yoon was impeached, arrested and dismissed as president after his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024 triggered huge public protests calling for his ouster.

The most significant criminal charge against him alleges that his martial law enforcement amounted to a rebellion, and the independent counsel has requested the death sentence in the case that is to be decided in a ruling next month.

In Friday's case, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Yoon for defying attempts to detain him, fabricating the martial law proclamation and sidestepping a legally mandated full Cabinet meeting.

Yoon has maintained he didn’t intend to place the country under military rule for an extended period, saying his decree was only meant to inform the people about the danger of the liberal-controlled parliament obstructing his agenda. But investigators have viewed Yoon’s decree as an attempt to bolster and prolong his rule, charging him with rebellion, abuse of power and other criminal offenses.

Judge Baek Dae-hyun said in the televised ruling that imposing “a grave punishment” was necessary because Yoon hasn’t shown remorse and has only repeated “hard-to-comprehend excuses.” The judge also restoring legal systems damaged by Yoon’s action was necessary.

Yoon, who can appeal the ruling, hasn’t immediately publicly responded to the ruling. But when the independent counsel demanded a 10-year prison term in the case, Yoon’s defense team accused them of being politically driven and lacking legal grounds to demand such “an excessive” sentence.

Prison sentences in the multiple, smaller trials Yoon faces would matter if he is spared the death penalty or life imprisonment at the rebellion trial.

Park SungBae, a lawyer who specializes in criminal law, said there is little chance the court would decide Yoon should face the death penalty in the rebellion case. He said the court will likely issue a life sentence or a sentence of 30 years or more in prison.

South Korea has maintained a de facto moratorium on executions since 1997 and courts rarely hand down death sentences. Park said the court would take into account that Yoon’s decree didn’t cause casualties and didn’t last long, although Yoon hasn’t shown genuine remorse for his action.