Azurá Stevens scored 17 points and the Chicago Sky wrapped up the regular season with an 82-67 victory over the Phoenix Mercury on Sunday.
The Sky (26-10), the defending WNBA champion, would have had an opportunity to earn the No. 1 playoff seed had the Las Vegas Aces (26-10) lost their regular-season finale earlier Sunday. However, the Aces defeated the Seattle Storm 109-100 to clinch the top seed.
Allie Quigley added 14 points and Emma Meesseman and Kahleah Copper 11 apiece for the Sky, who will open defense of their title as the No. 2 seed against the seventh-seeded New York Liberty (16-20).
The opener of the three-game series will be Wednesday at Wintrust Arena.
No Sky starter played more than 20 minutes, and all five reserves who played recorded at least 20 minutes.
The Sky dominated the Mercury from the start, leading 15-8 after one quarter and 39-25 at halftime.
Megan Gustafson had 12 points and 10 rebounds for Phoenix. Jennie Simms added 12 points, Kaela Davis 11 and Diamond DeShields 10.
The Mercury (15-21) played without Diana Taurasi, who missed the game with a quadriceps injury, and Skylar Diggins-Smith, whose contract has been suspended by the team. Still, they qualified for the playoffs when the Minnesota Lynx lost to the Connecticut Sun earlier Sunday.
The Mercury will be the eighth seed and face the top-seeded Aces on Wednesday.
The Aces wrapped up the Commissioner’s Cup for the WNBA’s best regular-season record by defeating the Sky and Storm in consecutive games. They beat the defending champion Sky 89-78 on Thursday.
The Storm already were assured of the No. 4 seed and will open the playoffs at home against the No. 5 Washington Mystics on Thursday.
The final first-round series also opens Thursday between the third-seeded Sun and sixth-seeded Dallas Wings.
Chicago Sky vs. New York Liberty
Best of three; x-if necessary
Game 1: Wednesday at Wintrust Arena, 7 p.m., ESPN2
Game 2: Saturday at Wintrust Arena, 11 a.m., ESPN
x-Game 3: Aug. 23 at Barclays Center, TBD
