Sophie Cunningham scored 17 points and the Phoenix Mercury put together one of their best games of the year on Tuesday night to surprise the visiting Connecticut Sun 72-66.
Diana Taurasi added 15 points for the Mercury (5-15), while Brittney Griner chipped in 12 points and Moriah Jefferson hit for 11.
More important, Phoenix held the WNBA’s fourth-highest-scoring team 18 points under its average, limiting Connecticut to 36.1 percent shooting from the field. It marked just the second time this year the Mercury kept an opponent under 70 points.
DeWanna Bonner scored a game-high 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Sun (15-6), while Alyssa Thomas added 11 points and seven assists. Tiffany Hayes and reserve DiJonai Carrington each tallied 10 points.
The Sun cut a 12-point, fourth-quarter deficit to 63-61 when Bonner canned a pullup jumper with 6:04 left. However, the Mercury went on a game-sealing 9-1 run, and Connecticut didn’t make a field goal for the game’s remainder.
Griner converted two foul shots with 1:28 remaining to give Phoenix a 72-62 cushion, and the hosts coasted to the finish line. The Mercury turned 12 Sun turnovers into 18 points and hit 11 of 26 3-point attempts (42.3 percent). The Sun shot 6 of 16 (37.5 percent) from long distance.
Cunningham insisted before the game that Phoenix had all the right pieces but that it was just a matter of getting them to match at the right time. That started with a 9-2 run late in the first quarter. Taurasi capped the surge with a jumper with 1:30 left in the period, and the Mercury took a 19-15 lead to the second.
Using the 3-point arc well, Phoenix canned three bombs in just under 4 1/2 minutes of the second quarter, and the Mercury held a 39-25 advantage at the 2:02 mark. Phoenix took a 43-34 edge to halftime, thanks to 54.8 percent shooting from the field. Connecticut hit 35.5 percent of its field-goal attempts prior to the break.
Connecticut pulled within 46-43 on a three-point play by Bonner with 6:24 left in the third quarter but went cold after that. When Cunningham drained a 3-pointer with 1.4 seconds remaining, the Mercury owned a 58-48 cushion going to the fourth.
–Field Level Media
