Mercury lead early before falling to Sun
UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Alyssa Thomas posted her second triple-double in less than two weeks and the Connecticut Sun beat the Phoenix Mercury 87-63 on Tuesday night.
Thomas, who recorded the franchise's first triple-double in a win over the Minnesota Lynx on July 22, finished with 10 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. The No. 4 pick overall in the 2014 draft, the 6-foot-2 Thomas is just the fifth WNBA player with multiple triple-doubles and joined Candace Parker (Chicago Sky) and Sabrina Ionescu (New York Liberty) as the only players with more than one this season.
Natisha Hiedeman had 16 points to lead seven Connecticut players scoring in double figures, It's the 12th time in league history that many players have reached double-digits in the same game. Connecticut has done it three times.
Phoenix took a 13-8 lead when Shey Peddy scored with 3:44 left in the first quarter but the Mercury went scoreless for the next 7-plus minutes minutes. Brionna Jones made a layup to open the scoring in the second quarter and give Connecticut (21-10) the lead for good at 15-13. Hiedeman made a 3-pointer to make it 42-30 with 7:50 left in the third and the Sun led by double figures the rest of the way.
The Mercury (13-18) have lost back-to-back games to fall a game behind the Dallas Wings (13-16) for sixth in the WNBA standings with less than two weeks remaining in the regular season. New York, the Los Angeles Sparks, the Atlanta Dream and the Minnesota Lynx (11th) are all within a game of Phoenix.
DiJonai Carrington and DeWanna Bonner scored 12 points apiece, Brionna Jones scored 11 and Jonquel Jones added 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Sun.
Skylar Diggins-Smith and Sophie Cunningham scored 15 points apiece for Phoenix and Kaela Davis added 10.
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The Mercury haven’t been able to collect a win on their three-game road trip yet, but the playoff hopes remain alive.
Sitting at the seventh seed, the Mercury’s 87-63 loss to the Connecticut Sun didn’t damage their position. The Dallas Wings (14-16) are trending upward at the sixth seed after defeating the Chicago Sky on Tuesday, while the New York Liberty moved up to No. 8 after defeating the Los Angeles Sparks that night. The Liberty have won their last two games, including Sunday’s matchup with the Mercury. The Mercury will meet the Liberty again to close out the season series on Saturday at Footprint Center.
With the Sun (21-10) on Thursday at 4 p.m. to conclude its road portion of the season, the Mercury hope to make the right adjustments from Tuesday’s game against the Sun and gain more control over its playoff destiny.
“I think just building on some of the positives from (Tuesday) and making some adjustments based on what Connecticut likes to do and being ready to battle. Anytime you play Connecticut, you know it’s going to be a tremendously physical game. Our players really matched that physicality (on Tuesday),” Mercury head coach Vanessa Nygaard said after Tuesday’s loss.
The fight was soured for the Mercury during the second quarter when Diana Taurasi exited the game after showing signs of discomfort on the bench. She played over 11 minutes and grabbed five rebounds and one assist. Taurasi remains questionable for Thursday and is dealing with a right quad issue.
“This is the next thing,” Nygaard said. “Dee has been in every game for us this season and losing her in that quarter and trying to figure that out for the rest of the game was a struggle, but I was very happy with the team’s fight. I know the score didn’t reflect it, but we had a lot of balls that seemed to go halfway down and pop right back up. The team continued to fight throughout.”
Losing a starter this season isn’t anything new for the Mercury, but the team will gain a valuable presence in Diamond DeShields. DeShields missed the last five games with a left hip injury and will add some critical minutes to the bench.
After going scoreless against the Liberty on Sunday, the bench contributed more in the last game with 10 points. If Taurasi is ruled out, DeShields will certainly help ease the pressure whether she is slotted in the starting five or is the first player off the bench. DeShields has averaged 12.5 points and has been crashing the boards more with 3.9 rebounds per game.
After Thursday’s game in Connecticut, the Mercury will return for a four-game homestand to conclude the season and try to clinch a playoff berth.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.