{"id":33840,"date":"2026-06-16T04:06:36","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T04:06:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/16\/kelsey-plum-kahleah-copper-author-dueling-40-point-games\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T04:06:36","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T04:06:36","slug":"kelsey-plum-kahleah-copper-author-dueling-40-point-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/16\/kelsey-plum-kahleah-copper-author-dueling-40-point-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Kelsey Plum, Kahleah Copper author dueling 40-point games"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-meta\">\n<div class=\"byline-wrap\">\n<ul class=\"authors byline-authors\">\n<li class=\"single-author mugshot-shown\">\n<div class=\"author-img\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/a.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=\/i\/columnists\/full\/voepel_m.png&amp;h=80&amp;w=80&amp;scale=crop\" alt=\"\" width=\"40\" height=\"40\"\/><\/div>\n<p>Michael Voepel<span class=\"timestamp \">Jun 14, 2026, 01:39 AM ET<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"author-overlay\"><a class=\"icon-font-after icon-close-solid-after\" href=\"#\">Close<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>Michael Voepel is a senior writer who covers the WNBA, women&#8217;s college basketball and other college sports. Voepel began covering women&#8217;s basketball in 1984, and has been with ESPN since 1996.<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Multiple Authors<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a data-clubhouse-guid=\"fc3d2f98-2a3d-9ef8-4d5b-b8d5168d7737\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/wnba\/team\/_\/name\/la\/los-angeles-sparks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Los Angeles Sparks<\/a> guard <a data-player-guid=\"2e8112d2-f7f5-33dd-0ab1-7a41c4134037\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/wnba\/player\/_\/id\/3065570\/kelsey-plum\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kelsey Plum<\/a> had 43 points and <a data-clubhouse-guid=\"514d18a9-00a8-d52b-dda2-37d707f19bd0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/wnba\/team\/_\/name\/phx\/phoenix-mercury\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Phoenix Mercury<\/a> guard <a data-player-guid=\"6e7575ee-bfdd-009a-f348-3cc2bde0ae32\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/wnba\/player\/_\/id\/2998938\/kahleah-copper\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kahleah Copper<\/a> scored 41 on Saturday, the first time opponents have had dueling 40-point games in WNBA history, including the playoffs. They each set career highs for points.<\/p>\n<p>But Plum got the last laugh as the Sparks <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/wnba\/game\/_\/gameId\/401856989\/sparks-mercury\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">won 111-102<\/a> in overtime at Phoenix&#8217;s Mortgage Matchup Center.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That was an offensive display by both Kah and KP,&#8221; Los Angeles coach Lynne Roberts said. &#8220;When they both have it going like that, it&#8217;s impressive and fun to watch.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Plum made 14 of 26 shots from the field, 5 of 11 from behind the arc and 10 of 12 free throws. She also had seven assists. Plum tied the Sparks&#8217; single-game scoring record, which is held by retired guard Kristi Toliver, and tied a Sparks record for points in the fourth quarter with 17.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"inline editorial float-r\" data-behavior=\"article_related\">\n<h2 class=\"editorial-title\">Editor&#8217;s Picks<\/h2>\n<p>2 Related<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Plum is averaging a WNBA-best 26.6 points per game while shooting 55.5% from the field and 41.4% from behind the arc for the Sparks, who are 7-6 and have won three in a row. Plum is averaging career highs in points, assists and field goal percentage.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In the offseason this year, I really took my weight room strength and conditioning to another level,&#8221; said Plum, who is in her ninth WNBA season. &#8220;Another thing is just mentally I&#8217;ve grown and been a lot more patient. I appreciate that Coach gives me the freedom to really go out there and just play.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Copper was 16-of-30 from the field, 6-of-14 from behind the arc and 3-of-6 from the free throw line. She had 10 rebounds and is the first player in Mercury history to score at least 40 points and have a double-double. Copper and retired star Diana Taurasi are the only Mercury players who have scored at least 40 in a game; Taurasi did it four times.<\/p>\n<p>Copper is the second player in WNBA history to record at least 40 points in a double-double in a loss; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/wnba\/team\/_\/name\/sea\/seattle-storm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Seattle<\/a>&#8216;s Lauren Jackson did so in 2007. Phoenix dropped to 4-11 and 1-5 at home.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michael VoepelJun 14, 2026, 01:39 AM ET Close Michael Voepel is a senior writer who covers the WNBA, women&#8217;s college<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33841,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_animmysite_disable_animation":false,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/a4.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2026%2F0614%2Fr1672831_1296x729_16%2D9.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[212],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}