WNBA - Seattle Storm Stops Phoenix Mercury’s Winning Run
By Ally White
The current first place of the Western Conference, the Seattle Storm, stopped the three-game winning streak of the Phoenix Mercury, beating them 93-84 last Sunday night. In the game, Seattle outrebounded the Mercury 37-22 and outscored them inside the paint 42-26.
To make things worse, Mercury’s coach, Corey Gaines, was send off the game with just 14 seconds left after arguing with the officials about some calls they made. The Mercury didn’t lose a game at home since August 28th 2008, but with a poor start and lack of defense over some great players like Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson it was sure that Phoenix wasn’t going to get the victory.
In the first quarter, the Seattle Storm began stronger in the game and with good shots of Sue Bird and a great run of Swin Cash, the Storm took a lead of 11 points with 1:38 left in the quarter. Mercury tried to react but with just 42.6 seconds, Seattle had a run of 8-0 to end the first quarter up 34-20. Into the second quarter, Mercury entered more focus, cutting the lead by scoring two baskets whereas the Storm didn’t score in the first three minutes. Seattle responded with some good shots, but they couldn’t handle to keep the great advantage they had in the first quarter since Diana Taurasi brought Mercury some support by scoring some great three-point shots to close the first half just four points down, 44-48.
During the first four minutes of the second half, Phoenix had a good run of 8-0 with the help of Cappie Pondexter, going up in the score for the first time in the game, 52-48. Nevertheless, some great shots of Tanisha Wright and Swin Cash gave the advantage back to Seattle to end the third quarter three points ahead, 68-65.
In the fourth quarter, Sue Bird entered aggressively in the first few minutes and scored 7 points in a row, giving then a lead of 10 points to Seattle, but with a free throw of Cappie Pondexter and some other good plays, Mercury managed to cut the lead to just three points with 1:53 remaining. However, with Lauren Jackson and Sue Bird’s three-pointers with just a few seconds left, things looked very tough for Mercury and the Storm obtained the victory and the first place at the Western Conference standings with a record of 5-2 in the season.
After the game the star of the Storm, Lauren Jackson, made a wake-up call to the press that has been only focused on Mercury and not on them, even though they are having also a great season and are at the top of the Western Conference as well.
"Everybody has been sort of talking about them and not really about us. It was good to get this win as more of making a statement in the league and people recognizing us as a legitimate contender," stated Jackson.
The best scorers for the Phoenix Mercury were Diana Taurasi with 25 points and 4 rebounds, Cappie Pondexter with 22 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds and finally Temeka Johnson with 11 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. For the Seattle Storm the best scorers were Lauren Jackson with 25 points and 8 rebounds, Swin Cash with 22 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists, then Sue Bird with 22 points, 9 assists and 5 rebounds and lastly Tanisha Wright with 14 points and 7 rebounds.
About the Author
Ally White is a top senior copy writer on sports action for the online sports betting: http://www.instantactionsports.com. Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety on your site, make sure to leave all links in place and do not modify any of the content.