Mercury’s comeback falls short in loss to Liberty
Down 15 points late in the third quarter and without scoring star Diana Taurarsi, the Phoenix Mercury roared from behind Tuesday night to lead by five before falling 69-67 to the New York Liberty at Talking Stick Resort Arena.
Sugar Rodgers blocked a game-tying final shot by 5-5 Leilani Mitchell, who started in place of Taurasi, suspended for one game for hitting a San Antonio player last week.
Stephanie Talbot made a 3-pointer, her first field goal, with 5:19 left giving the Mercury a 61-58 lead, its first since starting the second quarter.
The Mercury allowed just 25 points in the second half after giving up 44 in the first to trail by 10 at halftime. They went into Tuesday allowing 67.3 points per game, fewest in the WNBA and 16 less than their 2016 opponent average (83.3).
Talbot, a rookie from Australia, also had two fourth-quarter layups on feeds from Danielle Robinson and Brittney Griner.
Epiphanny Prince’s 3-pointer cut the Phoenix lead to 67-65 with just over two minutes left. Kia Vaughn scored to tie the game.
Cayla George missed a 3-pointer at the shot-clock buzzer for Phoenix, giving New York possession with under a minute remaining. Tina Charles was short on a jumper with the Mercury rebounding and taking timeout at the 42.5-second mark.
Rodgers tied up Talbot at 32.7 seconds with the jump ball going to Mitchell, who missed a long jumper. New York boarded and took a timeout at 25.5 seconds.
The Liberty worked for a final shot with Prince hitting a 16-footer at 4.5 seconds.
Talbot then inbounded to Mitchell, whose pull-up off a drive was blocked by Rodgers with no foul called.
The Mercury drop to 2-2 while New York improved to 2-1. Griner led Phoenix with 19 points, Talbot and Yvonne Turner had 12 and Mitchell 11.
Prince had 24 and Charles 22 for the Liberty.
The Liberty went up 55-40 on a deep 3-pointer by Prince late in the third quarter before the Mercury put together a 12-0 run in the final 2:33.
Mitchell sparked the rally with four points and several steals, helping Turner to get six points mostly in transition.
The Mercury trailed by nine early after an 11-0 Liberty run made it 13-4 then fought back to lead 20-19 at the end of the first quarter. George hit a pair of 3-pointer to spark that comeback.
New York dominated most of the second quarter for a 44-34 halftime lead. Charles had nine of her 15 first-half points in the second including a 3-pointer.
The Mercury shot just 33.3 percent (12-of-36) in the first half and were outrebounded 22-16. Griner and Emma Cannon had seven points each in the first half.
The Liberty are without guard Brittany Boyd, who suffered a season-ending Achilles injury in a game against Minnesota last week.
In regular season games without Taurasi, not including 2015 when she sat out the WNBA season, the Mercury are 9-32. They did win 83-64 over San Antonio in her last missed game in July 2016.
In this week’s Associated Press WNBA power poll, the Mercury are ranked fifth out of 12 teams behind defending champion Los Angeles, Minnesota, Seattle (its highest ranking ever) and New York. Dallas (1-1) is No. 7 and plays at Phoenix on Saturday trying for a second win over the Mercury. Liberty 69, Mercury 67
NEW YORK Charles 7-15 7-8 22, E.Prince 10-14 0-0 24, Rodgers 2-10 4-4 8, Stokes 1-4 1-2 3, Zellous 0-5 0-0 0, Allen 1-4 0-0 3, Hartley 0-2 0-0 0, Vaughn 4-6 1-2 9, Zahui B. 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 25-63 13-16 69.
PHOENIX Griner 6-13 7-7 19, Little 0-3 0-0 0, Mitchell 2-13 7-7 11, Robinson 0-3 0-0 0, Talbot 3-8 5-6 12, A.Prince 0-2 0-0 0, Cannon 3-6 1-1 7, George 2-5 0-0 6, Turner 6-11 0-0 12. Totals 22-64 20-21 67. New York 19 25 11 14 — 69 Phoenix 20 14 18 15 — 67 3-Point Goals—New York 6-16 (E.Prince 4-6, Charles 1-1, Allen 1-1, Zahui B. 0-1, Hartley 0-2, Rodgers 0-5), Phoenix 3-19 (George 2-4, Talbot 1-2, Cannon 0-1, A.Prince 0-2, Turner 0-2, Little 0-3, Mitchell 0-5). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—New York 37 (Charles 11), Phoenix 28 (Griner 6). Assists—New York 12 (Rodgers 4), Phoenix 14 (Robinson, Mitchell 5). Total Fouls—New York 22, Phoenix 16. Technicals—New York defensive three second, New York team. A—7,886 (18,422).