DeWanna Bonner leads Phoenix Mercury past Seattle Storm – WNBA Recap
In an away game on Thursday night, Phoenix Mercury led by the double-double effort of 24 points and 11 rebounds from DeWanna Bonner made their way to a 75-68 victory over Seattle Storm.
Samantha Prahalis and Diana Taurasi also made solid contribution for Mercury. Prahalis ended the night with 16 points, 6 assists and 3 steals while Taurasi has 13 points.
Storm had an off night on the offense, with only three players in double scoring figures and that too just. Camille Little led the way for them with 11 points while Tanisha Wright and Tina Thompson contributed 10 points each. Wright
also hauled down a team high 8 rebounds.
Both teams stayed equally competitive while cleaning up the glass but Phoenix held a slight advantage 40-39 in the game. Seattle were mainly let down with their inability to handle the ball properly as they turned the ball over
on 14 occasions. They would have gotten away as Phoenix turned the ball over on 11 occasions as well. However, Seattle’s turnovers came at more critical junctures of the game which turned out to be the reason for their down fall.
Phoenix started the game with a bang. They came out with back to back three pointers from Prahalis and Taurasi. However, Seattle scored the next four points to finally get going. The first quarter was an extremely close battle
and courtesy of a Thompson three pointer late in the frame, Seattle took a 18-17 lead.
In the early stages of the second quarter, Phoenix outscored Seattle 8-5. However, as time went on, Storm came back to tie the game up on several occasions. The scores remained close for the remaining time in the second quarter,
but this time it was Mercury’s turn to end with a three pointer and Taurasi duly obliged to give her team a 4 point lead before heading into the interval.
A similar script was played in the third period and no matter how hard Phoenix tried to pull away, they found Seattle lurking at their tale. Seattle had the better of third frame which finished at 54 apiece.
However, the start of the fourth quarter was when Phoenix were able to create some kind of separation as they opened up with a 13-2 run. Seattle kept attacking though and were able to make it a three point game with 3:39 remaining
in the game. But Phoenix remained calm and outscored Storm 6-2 in the remaining time to win this one.
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