Oftentimes, a basketball coach will only play eight players if his or her team is really in a rhythm.

On Thursday night, Dallas Wings head coach Chris Koclanes only played eight players… not because he wanted to, but because he had to.

Playing with eight players is one thing, but playing against the second-place Phoenix Mercury with only eight players is another thing.

The Wings starting five featured four rookies, the most in a starting lineup since the 2000 Minnesota Lynx did it 12 times.

However, despite all of that, it was those very rookies who led the Wings to their biggest statement win of the season.

Rookies Aziaha James (28), Paige Bueckers (23), and JJ Quinerly (17) led the way for the Wings, who took a 98-89 win over the Mercury at the College Park Center in Arlington on Thursday night.

Dallas came out shooting early on as a deep Bueckers three-pointer put the Wings ahead 9-2 and forced a Mercury timeout with 7:56 to go in the opening frame.

That hot start would continue through the opening frame as Dallas put forth their best offensive quarter of the season, shooting 10-13 from the field and 3 of 4 from deep to claim a 32-20 lead after the first quarter.

The rookies took over the game in the second quarter as back-to-back buckets, followed by an assist from Aziah James, extended the Wings lead to 51-36 with 3:56 to go in the half.

James continued to drop shots through the end of the half as she led all scorers with 20 points and, more importantly, the Wings led 61-43.

After three frames, the Wings lead shrank a bit as they led just 82-71 heading into the 4th and final stanza.

With 6:14 to go, Bueckers drained a pull-up mid-range to extend the Wings lead to 92-74.

Less than three minutes later, the Wings were forced into a timeout when Kahleah Copper nailed a three to make it 95-83 with 3:33 to go.

However, that was as close as Phoenix would get.