WNBA Phoenix Mercury

Mercury Weathers Storm 73-61

by Andrew Nordmeier
July 8, 2005 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Phoenix Mercury


For the first time in 10 months, the Phoenix Mercury has a winning streak after posting an impressive 73-61 win over the Seattle Storm Wednesday night at America West Arena. Phoenix (5-11) has won back-to-back games for the first time since September of 2004 when they won four in a row.

With Seattle ahead 36-31 and 18:18 left in the game, the Mercury took control and showed flashes of the dominant team everyone expected them to be.

Their shots were falling and their defense was stifling as Phoenix went on a 20-2 run in a six-minute span to snag a 51-38 lead.

"That's the Mercury we've been waiting for and now that we're together," Phoenix Head Coach Carrie Graf said, "We've showed signs of who we can be this season."

On top of that, the Mercury scored 10 of the next 14 points and pushed their edge to 19 points and left Seattle just over eight minutes to try and come back. Seattle used a 10-2 spurt to close within 11 but couldn't get any closer than that in the final five minutes.

"We keep on telling ourselves that no matter how many games we have left we're not going to win if we don't play defense," Lennox said, "Right now we're in a slump. Offense is going to take care of itself but we really have to play defense."

Phoenix also threw a block party, recording a franchise-high 12 of them in the win. The team's previous best was nine, which occurred three times, most recently against Indiana last July.

With the way Phoenix started, no one would have expected a win, let alone one of this wide of a margin. The Mercury came out and hit just one of their first 15 shots. The only thing that kept them close was strong free throw shooting, hitting seven of their first eight from the foul line to stay within striking distance.

Four players in double digits paced Phoenix with Penny Taylor leading the way with 17. Anna DeForge added 15 and All-Star Diana Taurasi chipped in 14. Shereka Wright scored 11 off of the bench and Maria Sharapova finished with eight points and 10 rebounds.

"I realized to help the team the way I can is to get penetration and take the ball all the way to the basket," Taylor said of her recent offensive outburst.

Seattle (8-9) was led by Betty Lennox's 17 points while Sue Bird (16) and Lauren Jackson (15) were also in double digits for the Storm.

Phoenix gets a week off before its next game next Wednesday night when they host the 2-12 Charlotte Sting.

When asked how Graf feels about the team's first winning streak in almost a year she said with a smile, "I can tell you it feels a whole lot better than a losing streak."

Notes: Phoenix lost 15 of its last 20 games before the winning streak...Jackson fouled out in the final four minutes for Seattle after falling one rebound short of a league-best eighth double-double...Phoenix won the battle of the boards 51-44...Seattle, the league's second best free-throw shooting team, only went to the line once with 2:29 left when the outcome was no longer in doubt...Seattle is 0-5 all-time in its last game before the All-Star Break...Phoenix won its second game in 13 tries when trailing at the half...Seattle is 1-5 on the road against the Western Conference, the lone coming against Phoenix June 2...These two teams meet one more time August 27th in Seattle.

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