Mercury Win Keeps Playoff Hope Alive

By Janet Webster: SPM AZ Writer
Posted Thursday, September 4, 2008

Minnesota's Charde Houston is guarded by Phoenix's Diana Taurasi. Photo by Jamie Hines.

PHOENIX -One down, five more to go for the Phoenix Mercury (13-16) to finish their regular season with any hope of making the playoffs. The “one” was a 103-96 victory over the Minnesota Lynx (14-15) Wednesday.

The “five” are the games remaining in the Mercury’s regular season schedule. Entering into the game in last place in the Western Conference standings and three and a half games out of the fourth and final playoff position, the Mercury need to win all five games to have a chance at defending their 2007 championship in the post season.

Phoenix and Minnesota are the WNBA’s two highest scoring teams at 88 and 80.1 average points per game respectively. But neither team could muster an offense in the first quarter, as six fouls were called on each team stopping the play and stifling any offensive rhythm.

The Mercury shot a dismal 25 percent from the floor but found some relief at the line, making five of their six attempts to tally 13 points for the quarter. Minnesota’s numbers were even more depressing. They made only three of their 17 shot attempts and were four of eight from the charity stripe for 10 points.

“It’s difficult to play with a lot of free throws,” Mercury forward Diana Taurasi said. “There was no rhythm.”

Taurasi was one of three players in the game who was on the USA National Team that won the Gold Medal at the Beijing Olympics in August. Her Mercury teammate, guard Cappie Pondexter, and Minnesota forward Seimone Augustus were also members of the USA team.

The number of fouls called increased in the second quarter, nine for Minnesota and eight for Phoenix. The Mercury, however, took advantage, hitting all eight of their free-throw attempts while Minnesota made only six of ten. The Mercury also improved their shooting from the field, hitting nine of 13 attempts and built a 14 point lead at the half, 40-26.

“We did a lot of good things defensively in the first half,” observed Taurasi, “We just had a lot of people move in and scrambling around which is good for us. And that kind of translated into a good offensive flow.”

Despite an additional 32 fouls called in the second half, totaling 61 total for the game, the offensive flow picked up steam as both teams adjusted to the rhythm of the game and regained their offensive prowess. Minnesota tallied a total 33 points in the third quarter, seven more than their first half total, and two more than the Mercury. Minnesota’s shooting guard Anna DeForge, a former Mercury player, found her stroke in the third scoring 16 of the Lynx’s 33 points. Taurasi answered with 11 points in the third for the Mercury.

The Lynx chipped away at the Mercury lead in the fourth. They cut the gap to three points with less than thirty seconds left in the game and had the Mercury crowd on their feet with nervous anticipation. The lead see-sawed back and forth with both teams fighting to secure the win.

With just under three minutes to play and a five-point lead, Mercury guard Kelly Mazzante found forward Le’coe Willingham breaking to the basket for a layup to extend the lead back to seven. Minnesota guard Candice Wiggins was fouled on the next Lynx possession and converted both free-throw attempts.

Seconds later, Taurasi fired another pass to Willingham as she broke free for another layup. Augustus converted two free throws for Minnesota to reduce the lead back to five. Pondexter was fouled on the next Mercury possession and converted only one of her two attempts.

Minnesota forward Kristen Rasmussen, also a former Mercury player, grabbed the Lynx’s 17th offensive board for the game off a missed shot by DeForge and Augustus capitalized on the possession hitting a jump shot from just outside the key. Pondexter converted her 12th point for the quarter with jump shot from just inside the three-point line.

Following a Lynx timeout, DeForge hit her fifth 3-pointer for the game and the Mercury lead was three with 27.6 seconds left on the clock. Mercury guard Kelly Miller was fouled by Minnesota guard Lindsey Harding and converted her free throws. Willingham grabbed a defensive rebound off a miss by Augustus and found Miller streaking to the basket for a fast break layup.

The Mercury lead was back up to seven with thirteen seconds to play. After a 20-second timeout by the Lynx, Harding hit a short running jump shot but Mercury center Brooke Smith found Taurasi for a layup less than three seconds later. Pondexter stole Minnesota’s inbound pass and the game was over.

“It was a big game for us,” Miller said. “We needed it. We came out with the mentality that we were going to win it. We just hung in there at the end. Teams are going to make a run on you and you need to be able to finish them off and just do the little things.”

Taurasi finished with a game-high 32 points and tied with Pondexter for a team high seven rebounds each. Miller scored a season-high 20 points and despite a slow start, Pondexter ended with 18 points and a game-high six assists. Willingham, normally a starter, came off the Mercury bench to ignite her team with 14 points.

Augustus led Minnesota in scoring with 27 points while DeForge added a season-high 23 points. Rookie center Nicki Anosike had a double-double with 14 points and a career-high 15 rebounds. Anosike leads the WNBA in steals with 70 for the season but had only one steal for the game. Her teammate Harding, however, had a career-high five steals. Wiggins contributed 11 points off the Lynx bench.

“It was a team effort tonight,” Mercury coach Corey Gaines said. “I told them before the game we would need a little bit from everybody.”

His team responded and, for now, is one game closer to their goal of getting into the postseason. The Mercury and Lynx will meet for the final time in the regular season on September 12th in Minnesota. With three games to play before then, the Mercury hope they are still in a must-win situation.

The game brought former Mercury all-star forward and future hall-of-famer Jennifer Gillom back to Phoenix for the first time since joining the Lynx staff as an assistant coach prior to the season. Jennifer was selected as a member of the Class of 2009 for induction into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. She, along with five other basketball greats will be formally inducted in June, 2009. Gillom, still a fan favorite in Phoenix, was introduced to a standing ovation prior to the starting player introductions.

The next matchup for both teams is against the current Western Division fourth-place team, the Sacramento Monarchs. The Mercury will meet the Monarchs on Friday night in another must-win home game. Minnesota travels to Sacramento for a Sunday contest against the Monarchs.

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