STILL ALIVE
Mercury to play Connecticut in second round
Returning to the site of their birth, the Phoenix Mercury won another WNBA playoff single-game elimination round Wednesday night, 79-69 over the Seattle Storm.
The game was played at Arizona State’s Wells Fargo Arena, where the Mercury made their very first appearance in June 1997, drawing a large crowd for an exhibition game that was an early indication that pro women’s basketball had a following and staying power here.
The Mercury were forced to return to ASU due to a scheduling conflict at Talking Stick Resort Arena. Cardinals Larry Fitzgerald, Patrick Peterson and David Johnson and a group of ASU students working the Curtain of Distraction from the stands added to a raucous atmosphere from a crowd of 5,764.
Center Brittney Griner, honored by WNBA President Lisa Borders before the game for winning the regular-season scoring title, led the Mercury with 23 points, tying her career-playoff high. She also pulled 11 rebounds for a double-double while playing all 40 minutes.
“Just giving Dee (Taurasi) some rest,” Griner joked. “I’ll get some good sleep tonight and come back ready.”
She was 8-of-21 from the floor with a number of the misses rolling away and made 7-of-8 free throws.
“My team had all the confidence in the world in me to keep putting them up,” Griner said.
The Mercury improved to 10-0 in winner-takeall games with Diana Taurasi in the lineup.
Seattle cut the Phoenix lead to 64-59 on a Breanna Stewart steal and breakaway.
After a timeout, the Storm’s Crystal Langhorne picked up her fifth foul. Yvonne Turner hit one of two free throws. Alysha Clark made a pair of free throws for the Storm at 3:16 to bring it to 65-61. The parade to the line continued with Mitchell making a pair at 3:01.
Stewart missed a contested layup with Griner rebounding. Taurasi missed a long 3-point try then
Seattle’s Sue Bird traveled with 1:55 left. Griner walked on a spin move, and the lead remained at six going into a timeout at 1:33.
Bird hit a pull-up jumper that Taurasi answered with a 3-pointer for a 70-63 lead. Taurasi, who became WNBA career scoring and 3-point leader this season, and Bird, new WNBA career assists leader, were college teammates at Connecticut for two years.
Mitchell wrapped up the win with an open 3pointer off a cross-court pass from Taurasi with 36.2 seconds left. “I thought Larry (Fitzgerald) was going to be there to catch it,” Taurasi said of her assist. “It’s more of a read. BG (Griner) and I were in high pick-and-roll and their big came out and made it difficult. Leilani has great basketball karma. When you need a loose ball or someone to make a play, Leilani always seems to be open and she’s not afraid to take a big shot. That was huge for us at the end.”
The 5-5 Mitchell scored 17 points, with Turner adding 15 and Taurasi 14.
Stewart, second in WNBA regular-season scoring behind Griner, led Seattle with 23 points and eight boards. Jewell Loyd scored 17 on 4-of-14 shooting, down from 33 points in the last meeting against Phoenix.
“It was a hard fought win, a bit of a grind,” Mercury coach Sandy Brondello said. “We were able to keep Diana on the court in the second half, and that certainly helped us. We were a little rattled in that first half and she brings poise. It was a real team effort. Leilani Mitchell was fantastic, Yvonne Turner’s defense on Loyd was really good and Camille Little did a great job on Stewart. I’m happy we survived another day.”
The Mercury shot just 38.6 percent but better than the Storm (34.9). Phoenix had a 38-31 rebounding edge.
Phoenix used a 24-15 advantage in the third quarter to ensure their third one-and-done victory in the last two postseasons. In 2016, the Mercury won single-elimination road games over Indiana and New York to reach the WNBA’s final four for a fourth straight year before losing 3-0 to Minnesota.
Up next for the No. 5 seed Mercury is a road game at No. 4 Connecticut at noon Sunday, another single elimination round.
In the other first-round elimination game Wednesday, the No. 6 seed Washington Mystics won 86-76 over the No. 7 Dallas Wings. The Mystics are at No. 3 New York on Sunday.
Taurasi and Mitchell scored seven points each in the third quarter as the Mercury stretched a onepoint halftime lead to 10 (56-46).