Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner and guard Diana Taurasi were ruled out for Sunday afternoon’s game against the New York Liberty in Brooklyn.

Griner is nursing a hip injury and Taurasi is dealing with a troublesome hamstring for the Mercury (2-7).

Griner, 32, boasts team-best averages in points (20.1), rebounds (6.5) and blocks (2.5) this season.

Taurasi, 40, averages a club-leading 6.0 assists per game to go along with 15.3 points and 3.5 rebounds.

–Field Level Media

Jewell Loyd scored 25 of her career-high 39 points in the first half to lead the Seattle Storm to a 109-103 victory over the Dallas Wings on Saturday in Arlington, Texas.

Arike Ogunbowale scored a career-high 41 points for the Wings (5-6).

Dallas has lost its last two home games after starting 4-0.

Seattle’s point total marked a season high.

Four other players joined Loyd in double figures, including Ezi Magbegor (15 points), Ivana Dojkic (14), Mercedes Russell (12) and Kia Nurse (11).

Russell added 10 rebounds and five assists, and Dojkic had a game-high seven assists.

Loyd made 7 of 12 shot attempts from 3-point range, leading Seattle’s 17-of-34 performance from beyond the arc.

Dallas’ Natasha Howard had 20 points and 10 rebounds, and Satou Sabally finished with 25 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

Loyd, who did not score in the third period, had 14 points in the fourth quarter, including 10 in the last two minutes.

She made two free throws with 1:57 left to give Seattle a 99-93 lead.

Ogunbowale answered with a shot in the lane on Dallas’ next possession.

Loyd again went to the free-throw line with 1:32 remaining to put Seattle ahead 101-95.

After Sabally missed a layup for Dallas, Loyd nailed a 3-pointer to increase the lead to 104-95 with 1:03 left.

Seattle (3-7) led by as many as 15 points in the first half behind its 11 made 3-pointers, six by Loyd.

Dallas outscored Seattle 16-7 to start the third quarter and took a 63-62 lead with 4:36 remaining in the period.

Ogunbowale scored six points in that stretch.

Sami Whitcomb made two 3-pointers to spark a 13-5 run, allowing Seattle to take an 87-80 lead with 7:21 left.

Dallas answered with six unanswered points to cut the lead to 87-86 with 4:24 remaining.

A 3-pointer by Magbegor ended a scoring drought of 3:10 for the Storm and increased their lead to 90-86 with 4:11 left.

–Field Level Media

Jordin Canada looks to follow up the highest-scoring effort of her six-year career when her Los Angeles Sparks host the Connecticut Sun on Sunday night.

Due to backcourt absences, Canada was a virtual ironwoman on Friday night, playing the entire 40 minutes against the Minnesota Lynx and pouring in 22 points during a 77-72 home loss.

Canada was 9-for-17 shooting and also had five assists and two steals. She was occasionally unguarded as Minnesota focused on stopping former MVP Nneka Ogwumike (8 points, 2-for-9 shooting) in the interior.

“I don’t really feel like I was insulted,” Canada said afterward. “I don’t really care what other teams do against me or how they decide to guard me. I’m very comfortable and confident in my abilities.”

Canada is averaging a career-best 13.7 points in her second season with the Sparks (5-5). She spent her first four campaigns with the Seattle Storm.

She also is averaging 32.3 minutes per game for a team without guard Layshia Clarendon (foot) for another three to five weeks.

In addition, starting guard Lexie Brown missed Friday’s game with an illness. Her absence led to first-round draft choice Zia Cooke making her first career start. Cooke had five points in 25 minutes.

Connecticut (8-3) is beginning a three-game road trip that also includes games against the Storm and Lynx.

The Sun are coming off a 92-88 overtime home loss to the Atlanta Dream on Thursday. Connecticut is 2-2 after winning six of its first seven games.

Brionna Jones recorded season bests of 28 points and 13 rebounds in Thursday’s loss. She made 12 of 17 shots. Jones is averaging 16.1 points and 8.5 rebounds.

DeWanna Bonner, who scored 20 points against Atlanta, is averaging a team-best 17.5 points.

Alyssa Thomas recorded 23 points, seven assists and six rebounds. She leads the Sun in rebounding (10.7) and assists (7.3) while ranking third in scoring (14.9).

Connecticut has a fourth double-digit scorer in Tiffany Hayes (10.3).

Thomas likes the fact that the Sun have so many top-notch options who are also unselfish players.

“It doesn’t matter how many points you have, what you do, how many minutes you play,” Thomas said. “At the end of the day, it’s a team win. And we’re all excited for each other.”

–Field Level Media

The Las Vegas Aces have been the best team in the WNBA so far this season.

The Minnesota Lynx have been the opposite, holding one of the worst marks in the league.

That could set up a mismatch when the teams meet Sunday night in Las Vegas.

The Aces (9-1), who have eight games of 90 or more points, might want to be on upset alert.

The Lynx (3-7) should arrive with energy after pulling off a 77-72 comeback victory Friday night at Los Angeles to start a three-game road trip. Napheesa Collier racked up 25 points against the Sparks.

“Just learning what it takes for us as a team to finish out games has been (a) struggle a little bit, but I think we are finally trying to find our way and figuring out what works best,” Collier said.

Minnesota, which trailed by nine at halftime Friday, has won two straight and three of its last four. Still, the offense has reached 80 points only five times.

The Aces thumped Seattle 96-63 on Thursday night behind Jackie Young’s 28 points even though she didn’t attempt a free throw. Young is fifth in the league with 20.5 points per game.

“This is something that she has worked on and the growth that we’re seeing in her, it’s what she’s supposed to do,” Las Vegas teammate A’ja Wilson said.

Las Vegas drubbed the Lynx 94-73 on May 28 in Las Vegas. Young had a team-best 23 points in that meeting, while Collier led the Lynx with 21 points.

“Overall, I think we handled the zone decently,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said of the first matchup with Minnesota. “I think they did steal a couple of possessions with the zone, but overall, I thought we did pretty well with it.”

Aces guard Chelsea Gray reached a milestone in Thursday’s game by recording her 300th career steal.

Sunday’s contest marks the end of the Aces’ three-game homestand.

The Lynx began their trip without forwards Jessica Shepard (illness) and Natalie Achonwa (maternity leave).

–Field Level Media

While the Atlanta Dream are off to a strong start on their longest road stretch of the season, the Indiana Fever sit in position to match their win total from 2022.

Both teams will look for a third consecutive victory when they meet Sunday in Indianapolis.

The Dream (4-5) opened this campaign with an 85-78 loss at Dallas, but followed with consecutive road wins over Minnesota, New York and Connecticut by a combined 17 points. The latter two victories, which came after a three-game slide, opened a stretch of four consecutive road contests.

“Two great back-to-back, bounce-back wins,” Dream coach Tanisha Wright said. “Watching the growth. It was toughness. Having some heart.”

Allisha Gray, who averages a team-leading 18.0 points per game, collected 27 points and 10 rebounds during Thursday’s 92-88 overtime win against the Sun. The Dream are averaging 84.0 points this season after ranking second-to-last at 78.5 in 2022.

Atlanta, which is allowing a hefty 85.7 points per contest, dropped a 90-87 decision on May 28 to the Fever (4-6), who hardly resemble the team that finished 5-31 in 2022.

Indiana snapped a WNBA record-tying 20-game losing streak in that meeting at Atlanta. The Fever’s NaLyssa Smith (14.3 points, 9.7 rebounds per game) had 23 points with 13 boards in a game that featured 20 lead changes and was essentially determined on Indiana’s successful coach’s challenge to a Kelsey Mitchell foul with 16.7 seconds remaining.

Mitchell (16.8 ppg), who sank a pair of free throws to clinch that victory, hit a tiebreaking, step-back jumper with 1.1 seconds remaining Thursday to give Indiana a 92-90 win at Chicago.

“It’s about making sure we weather storms and make sure that we’re resilient, and relentless, no matter what,” Mitchell told the Indianapolis Star.

Overall No. 1 pick Aliyah Boston totaled 42 points and 22 rebounds in the last two games for Indiana.

The Fever have won three of their last four games. They averaged 87.0 points in the last three.

–Field Level Media

The Chicago Sky look to snap a three-game skid and exact a measure of revenge for an early-season loss to the Washington Mystics when the teams meet in the nation’s capital on Sunday afternoon.

The Sky (5-6) dropped double-digit decisions on the road to both the Los Angeles Sparks and Las Vegas Aces before falling 92-90 to the visiting Indiana Fever on Thursday.

Marina Mabrey erupted for a career-high 36 points on 14-for-22 shooting from the floor — including 6 of 11 from 3-point range. Mabrey, however, was left to lament what she perceived as a lackluster fourth-quarter performance.

“I can do a better job screening when they’re face-guarding me,” Mabrey said, per the Chicago Sun-Times. “So I can get people open rather than thinking to get open myself.”

Robyn Parks scored a career-high 13 points on 5-for-6 shooting after being inserted into the starting lineup in place of Kahleah Copper (personal).

“We didn’t win the game,” Sky coach/general manager James Wade said after seeing his team squander a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter. “When we coach, we coach to win the game. We don’t coach to get close because Kahleah’s not on the floor. There’s no victory in Kahleah not playing and us getting close.”

Mabrey had a team-high 19 points and Courtney Williams added 13 in Chicago’s 71-69 setback to Washington on May 26.

Elena Delle Donne scored 25 points in that game and added 17 on Friday as the Mystics posted their fifth win in seven outings with an 88-69 victory over the Phoenix Mercury.

Washington (6-4) shot 50 percent from the floor (32 of 64) and 42.3 percent from 3-point range (11 of 26) en route to recording its season-high point total.

“I felt like the group after the awful loss in Indiana had a focus in practice, a different one,” Delle Donne told the Washington Post. “So I felt like we’d come out strong, but sometimes you never know.”

Natasha Cloud (ankle) sat out Friday’s contest. She is considered day-to-day by coach Eric Thibault.

–Field Level Media