LAS VEGAS (AP) — Alyssa Thomas scored 20 points and the Phoenix Mercury walloped the Las Vegas Aces 99-66, making sure the only celebration for the reigning WNBA champions on Saturday would be their pregame ring ceremony.
The win was a measure of revenge for the Mercury, who were swept by the Aces in last season's WNBA Finals.
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Phoenix Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts calls to players during the first half of an WNBA basketball game against the Las Vegas Aces, Saturday, May 9, 2026, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
Phoenix Mercury forward/guard DeWanna Bonner, right, blocks a shot by Las Vegas Aces forward Kierstan Bell (1) during the first half of an WNBA basketball game Saturday, May 9, 2026, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas, left, and guard/forward Kahleah Copper, back right, defend against Las Vegas Aces guard Jackie Young, front right, during the first half of an WNBA basketball game Saturday, May 9, 2026, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
Las Vegas Aces center A'ja Wilson (22) looks to shoot over Phoenix Mercury forward/guard DeWanna Bonner, right, during the first half of an WNBA basketball game Saturday, May 9, 2026, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
Las Vegas Aces center A'ja Wilson (22) looks to shoot between Phoenix Mercury center Kyara Linskens (31) and forward Alyssa Thomas, right, during the first half of an WNBA basketball game Saturday, May 9, 2026, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
This was the Mercury's largest margin of victory since defeating Indiana 95-60 on Aug. 7, and it's the Aces' worst defeat since a 111-58 loss to Minnesota on Aug. 3. Las Vegas then finished the regular season with 16 consecutive wins.
Mercury rookie Jovana Nogic, who most recently played in Russia and is on the Serbian national team, scored all of her 19 points in the first half. She was one of six Mercury players to score in double figures. Natasha Mack had 10 points and 15 rebounds.
Four-time MVP A'ja Wilson led the Aces with 19 points, Jackie Young scored 12 and NaLyssa Smith 11.
Before the game Aces players and coaches were given their championship rings, which included a removable top so that part of it could be worn out rather than put simply on display. The left side of the ring includes the players' name and position in 14-karat white gold.
"We're back!" Aces majority owner Mark Davis said to the crowd during the ceremony as minority owner Tom Brady stood nearby.
Because this game took place at T-Mobile Arena, the Aces — who have won three of the past four titles — won't raise their championship banner until playing Los Angeles on May 23 at their usual home, Michelob Ultra Arena.
The Mercury made sure the Aces' celebration was short-lived as Phoenix, which never trailed, took command with a 14-2 run to open the second quarter and go up 41-23.
Phoenix: At Golden State on Sunday.
Las Vegas: At Los Angeles on Sunday.
AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
Phoenix Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts calls to players during the first half of an WNBA basketball game against the Las Vegas Aces, Saturday, May 9, 2026, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
Phoenix Mercury forward/guard DeWanna Bonner, right, blocks a shot by Las Vegas Aces forward Kierstan Bell (1) during the first half of an WNBA basketball game Saturday, May 9, 2026, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas, left, and guard/forward Kahleah Copper, back right, defend against Las Vegas Aces guard Jackie Young, front right, during the first half of an WNBA basketball game Saturday, May 9, 2026, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
Las Vegas Aces center A'ja Wilson (22) looks to shoot over Phoenix Mercury forward/guard DeWanna Bonner, right, during the first half of an WNBA basketball game Saturday, May 9, 2026, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
Las Vegas Aces center A'ja Wilson (22) looks to shoot between Phoenix Mercury center Kyara Linskens (31) and forward Alyssa Thomas, right, during the first half of an WNBA basketball game Saturday, May 9, 2026, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
TENERIFE, Spain (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization sought Saturday to reassure residents of the Spanish island where passengers of a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship are expected to be evacuated, issuing them a direct message that the virus was “not another COVID.”
The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, with more than 140 passengers and crew on board, is headed to Spain's Canary Islands, off the coast of West Africa, and is expected to arrive at the island of Tenerife early Sunday.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, along with Spain’s Health Minister Monica Garcia and Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, arrived on the island Saturday to coordinate the disembarkation of passengers and some crew.
“I know you are worried. I know that when you hear the word ‘outbreak’ and watch a ship sail toward your shores, memories surface that none of us have fully put to rest. The pain of 2020 is still real, and I do not dismiss it for a single moment,” Tedros said in a statement to the people of Tenerife.
“But I need you to hear me clearly: This is not another COVID. The current public health risk from hantavirus remains low. My colleagues and I have said this unequivocally, and I will say it again to you now,” Tedros added.
The WHO, Spanish authorities and cruise company Oceanwide Expeditions said nobody on the Hondius is currently showing symptoms of the virus.
Hantavirus can cause life-threatening illness. It usually spreads when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings and isn’t easily transmitted between people. But the Andes virus detected in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.
Three people have died since the outbreak, and five passengers who left the ship are infected with hantavirus.
Some on Tenerife say they are worried. On board the cruise ship, some Spanish passengers have voiced concern about being stigmatized.
“I tell you, I don’t like this very much,” said 69-year-old resident Simon Vidal. “Anyone can say what they want. Why did they have to bring a boat from another country here? Why not anywhere else, why bring it to the Canary Islands?”
Others said they empathized with the boat's passengers, but were still concerned.
“The truth is that it is very worrying,” said 27-year-old Venezuelan immigrant Samantha Aguero. She added: “We feel a bit unsafe, we don’t feel as there are 100% security measures in place to welcome it. This is a virus after all and we have lived this during the pandemic. But we also need to have empathy.”
Garcia said passengers and some crew would disembark in Tenerife “under maximum safety conditions.”
The ship will not dock but will remain at anchor, with people ferried off in small boats. Everyone disembarking will be checked for symptoms and won't be taken off the ship until a flight is already in Tenerife waiting for them, Garcia said during a news conference in Madrid. There are currently people of more than 20 different nationalities on board.
Authorities are aiming to complete the evacuation flights on Sunday and Monday, the director of the WHO's Department of Epidemic and Pandemic Management, Maria Van Kerkove, said in a briefing Saturday.
Both the U.S. and the U.K. have agreed to send planes to evacuate their citizens. Americans are to be quarantined at a medical center in Nebraska.
All Spanish passengers will be transferred to a medical facility and quarantined, Garcia said. Oceanwide has listed 13 Spanish passengers and one Spanish crew member on board.
Those disembarking will leave behind their luggage, Garcia said, and will be allowed to take only a small bag with essential items, a cellphone, charger and documentation.
Some crew, as well as the body of a passenger who died on board, will remain on the ship, which will sail on to the Netherlands, where it will undergo disinfection, the minister added.
According to a letter sent by the Dutch foreign and health ministers to parliament late Friday, Spain has activated the EU civil protection mechanism for a medical evacuation plane equipped for infectious diseases to be on standby in case anyone on the ship becomes ill. That person would then be transported by air to the European mainland.
The Dutch government will work with Spanish authorities and the ship company to arrange repatriation of Dutch passengers and crew as soon as possible after arrival in Tenerife, subject to medical conditions and advice from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the letter said. Those without symptoms will go into home quarantine for six weeks and be monitored by local health services.
As the ship is Dutch-flagged, the Netherlands may also temporarily accommodate people of other nationalities and monitor them in quarantine, it said.
Health authorities across four continents were tracking down and monitoring more than two dozen passengers who disembarked before the deadly outbreak was detected. They were also scrambling to trace others who may have come into contact with them.
On April 24, nearly two weeks after the first passenger had died on board, more than two dozen people from at least 12 different countries left the ship without contact tracing, Dutch officials and the ship’s operator have said.
It wasn’t until May 2 that health authorities first confirmed hantavirus in a passenger.
Dutch public health authorities have been monitoring people who were on a flight that was briefly boarded by a Dutch ship passenger who later died and was confirmed to have hantavirus. Three people who were on the flight and had symptoms have all tested negative for hantavirus, Dutch National Institute for Public Health spokesperson Harald Wychgel told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Becatoros reported from Sparta, Greece. Associated Press reporters Angela Charlton in Paris and Helena Alves in Tenerife contributed to this report.
Spanish Civil Guard officers stand guard in the area where passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship are expected to arrive at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, speaks to the media near the area where passengers from the MV Hondius are expected to arrive at the port of Port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
A Spanish Civil Guard officer inspects the area where passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship are expected to arrive at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Media crew members stand in the area where passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship are expected to arrive at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Workers set up temporary shelters in the area where passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship are expected to arrive at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Passengers on the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, scan the horizon with binoculars during their voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
Passengers on the the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, watch epidemiologists board the boat in Praia, during their voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
A passenger checks his camera inside his cabin on the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, during the voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
Crew members of the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, wait their turns for a first interview with epidemiologists, during the voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
A passenger on the the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, takes a photo of the ship's weighing anchor in Praia, during the voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
