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WNBA Phoenix Mercury

Monarchs Thump Mercury 105-78 in Season Opener

by Andrew Nordmeier
May 22, 2006 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Phoenix Mercury


The Phoenix Mercury, under the direction of Head Coach Paul Westhead, is going to be a team that will run up and down the court all night and score a bunch of points. As they found out in the season opener against the Sacramento Monarchs Saturday afternoon at Arco Arena, they're going to have to play smart basketball to post wins in their run-and-gun style.

Phoenix (0-1) was outscored 26-6 in the second quarter as the Monarchs (1-0) showed why they are the defending WNBA Champions by posting a 105-78 throttling of the Mercury in the season opener for both teams. The second quarter was where the wheels fell off for Phoenix. After a Kamila Vodichkova basket gave Phoenix a 26-25 lead, Phoenix went seven minutes without a basket until Diana Taurasi scored with 1:18 left in the quarter. While the Mercury's offense was frozen at 26 points, Sacramento ran off 20 straight points to take a 19-point lead and they would never relinquish it.

Every Sacramento Monarch scored at least four points and six different Monarchs recorded double-digit points to utilize a balanced attack and stymie Phoenix. Erin Buscher led all players with 18 points but that is a deceptive stat. Most of them came in the fourth quarter as she hung back and cherry-picked at half court, benefiting from several breakaways following Phoenix misses in the fourth quarter. Nicole Powell and Yolanda Griffith each added 14 points while Kristin Hayne bagged 11 points. Scholanda Dorrell and Rebekkah Brunson each scored 10 points. Brunson also snared 10 rebounds for the first double-double of the season.

Tamicha Jackson and Taurasi paced Phoenix with 14 points each. Cappie Pondexter, the second overall pick in last month's WNBA Draft, made her Mercury debut with eight points in 19 minutes before fouling out. Ann Strother scored 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting from three-point range to give Phoenix a bright spot on an otherwise gloomy day. Vodichkova scored 10 for Phoenix.

Things started out extremely well for Phoenix as they opened the game on a 14-1 run in the first three minutes, fueled by a pair of Taurasi three-pointers. Sacramento rallied back and was down 24-23 after the first quarter. Then the second quarter devastated Phoenix. Sacramento outscored Phoenix 56-48 in the second half to eliminate any chance of a Mercury rally. If not for a 26-point fourth quarter, Phoenix could have easily lost by more than 40 points to the champions.

Sacramento also won two key battles that led to its victory. They dominated the Mercury in the lane outscoring them 56-35 in the paint and outrebounding them 63-34. The Monarchs took advantage of 27 fouls committed by Phoenix and cashed them in for a 25-of-33 performance on the foul line; Phoenix was 6-of-9 by comparison.

Up next, the Mercury kicks off its home schedule Thursday night when they host the Seattle Storm at the US Airways Center.

Notes: Sacramento played without DeMya Walker who was out of the lineup on maternity leave after giving birth to a girl April 12th...Phoenix played without Penny Taylor as she is still in Italy finishing off a season over there...Phoenix missed 12 straight shots in the second quarter...The game was somewhat sloppy as the teams combined for 41 turnovers, 22 by Sacramento...No Phoenix player snagged more than five rebounds; Sacramento had five players with at least five rebounds each...Attendance was a sellout of 17,317.

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Women's National Basketball Association Stories from May 22, 2006


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