A showdown for the ages went down at the College Park Center in Arlington, Texas. A back-and-forth battle that saw the visiting Phoenix Mercury triumph over a sliding Dallas Wings 104-96, thanks to the brilliance of Mercury’s dynamic No.2 Kahleah Copper. Moreover, the 6,129 in attendance also witnessed a classic face-off between her and the Wings’ veteran power forward, Natasha Howard. And fans were overjoyed to witness this memorable battle.

The 3x WNBA champions presented another example of their ability to hold on to their nerves in crunch situations. Despite a late onslaught by the Wings which included Natasha Howard’s 14 points in the third quarter, the visitors had some tricks up their sleeves eventually with the help of Copper, who sealed the deal by connecting on a three with 23 seconds left. She ended up scoring 34 points for the night while being 14 of 20 from the field.

On the other hand, the 2x WNBA All-Star Howard tried to imitate something similar for the Wings. She turned out to be the main catalyst behind Dallas’s performance, scoring 33 points in the third quarter. Consequently, this not only helped them overcome their 18-point deficit but also resulted in it becoming their highest-scoring quarter this season.

The 32-year-old capped off her evening with a fantastic double-double comprising 36 points and 11 rebounds. In addition to this, she was 11 of 15 in her field goals and landed 13 out of her 17 shots from the free throw line. However, it proved to be another tough night for the Wings, who have now lost all but one game in their last 15.

As a result of these clinical performances, fans are now flooding social media with their respective takes.

Fans relish the battle between Kahleah Copper and Natasha Howard

Both Kahleah Copper and Natasha Howard have been in decent touch this season. While Copper is averaging 21.8 points while being 42.6% efficient in field goals and burying 34.4% from beyond the arc, Howard is averaging 15.1 points, 7 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game. The fact that they could repeat it for another night proved to be legendary for some fans. One of them expressed, “Legendary performance.” 

Despite trailing the game 61-43 very early in the third quarter, the Wings were able to pull themselves together. They even trimmed the lead to just 3 when the scoreboard read 99-96 with just 1:54 left. This tremendous fightback managed to scare a lot of Phoenix fans but also impressed them by the end. This was reflected in an X user’s comment which read, “Wings put up a good fight tho. I was sweating more than the players congratulations!” 

Kahleah Copper was a part of the Chicago Sky roster from 2017 to 2023. During this, she won the WNBA championship in 2021 and was also the Finals MVP that year. Witnessing her displaying the same magic was making many wonder why the Sky franchise parted ways with the 6 ft 1 in guard. Therefore, one of them asked the question, “Why did the Sky let Copper go??”

With this win, the Phoenix Mercury now stands in the 4th position in the Western Conference Standings. They have won 10 out of their 20 games and are looking strong to make it to the playoffs. Some of its supporters were thrilled to see them ending up on the winning side and expressed their belief in the squad. One of them said, “Let’s go Mighty Mercury.” 

Many believe that the way the game spanned out, it was worthy of an overtime. Still, the way both these female athletes performed throughout the 40 minutes was also commendable for its supporters. Elated by it, one of them expressed, “The Ladies Went Off In A Non OT 40 Minute Game.” 

The game was indeed a nail-biter for everyone. The way both these experienced ballers put up a show will surely be a memorable affair for many days to come. Fans will be expecting some more from both of them in their upcoming games.

Stay tuned for more such updates. And to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the infamous Shaq-Kobe feud, Caitlin Clark’s Olympic snub, and more, watch this video.