WNBA Phoenix Mercury

Mercury Squanders 17-Point Lead, Falls 66-63

by Andrew Nordmeier
August 3, 2005 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Phoenix Mercury


Professional sports can be just like a roller coaster ride. One minute you're on top of the world and the next minute, you feel like everyone's trampling you. That applies to the WNBA and the Phoenix Mercury needed just 48 hours to go from world-beaters to world's worst.

Just two nights after rallying back from a 16-point deficit to beat Minnesota, Phoenix squandered a 17-point edge in the second half and lost to the Detroit Shock 66-63 Sunday afternoon at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

The game pivoted on two plays that led to Phoenix's demise. Leading 45-30, Shock forward Cheryl Ford made a basket to cut the deficit to 13 and had a chance for a three-point play. She missed the free throw but Kara Braxton swooped in, scooped up the rebound, and put it home to give Detroit a four-point play.

Those two plays ignited Detroit on a 29-6 run over the next 11:30 to wipe out the deficit and put the Shock up by as many as six at 57-51 with 4:15 left. Braxton scored 12 of the points in the run and finished with 16 on the night to pace Detroit.

While Detroit was running away with the game, Phoenix was held to just one field goal by Kamila Vodichkova in that span; their other points came on foul shots.

The Mercury made it close getting to within one at 64-63 with 8.7 seconds left. Deanna Nolan missed a pair of free throws for Detroit but Shock center Ruth Riley grabbed the rebound off the second miss. Riley was fouled and sent to the line with 5.8 to play.

Riley made both her free throws and put Phoenix down by three. After working up the court quickly, a desperation three-pointer by Mercury guard Anna DeForge was wide and Detroit had back-to-back wins for the first time since opening the season 4-0.

DeForge led all players with 20 and Diana Taurasi was the only other player in double digits for Phoenix with 16. Nolan's 12 points and Riley's 10 were the only other Shock players in double figures. Katie Smith, acquired from Minnesota in a trade late Saturday, added six points in her first game for the Shock.

Phoenix will try to get back on track when they host the Minnesota Lynx Wednesday night at America West Arena.

Notes: Detroit won two key battles inside, dominating the paint 34-12 and out rebounding Phoenix 44-27...Detroit survived and won despite committing 25 turnovers...Phoenix missed out on a chance for its second four-game winning streak of the season...Los Angeles and Minnesota both lost on the weekend so had Phoenix hung on to the big lead they would be fourth in the Western Conference now.

Check out the Phoenix Mercury Statistics



Women's National Basketball Association Stories from August 3, 2005


The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central