Diana Taurasi leads as Phoenix Mercury squeak past Indiana Fever in Overtime, 93-89 – WNBA Recap
Diana Taurasi pounded a game-high 32 points and grabbed five rebounds as Phoenix Mercury scored their first victory of the season with a 93-89 overtime victory over Indiana Fever on Sunday night at US Airways Center.
Candice Dupree registered a season high 21 points, game high 18 rebounds and three steals while Marie Ferdinand-Harris also came off the bench with a season-high 17 points, shooting a perfect 6-for-6 from free throw line.
Taurasi led Mercury in scoring but Ferdinand-Harris was the one who made the difference with four points at the crucial time. Trailing by 89-87, the ball in her hands and the clock running down in overtime, Harris nailed a clutch
jumper that tied the scores at 89-89. After Taurasi slipped in two from the stripe in the possession that followed to give Fever the lead, Harris nailed two more free throws to consolidate Phoenix’s lead to 93-89. And this was the way it ended.
Jessica Davenport led Phoenix with 20 points and nine rebounds before she went out of the game with her sixth personal foul. Tamika Catchings contributed 17 points and 15 boards while Jeanette Pohlen also added 17 points, shooting
a phenomenal 5-for-5 from three-point range.
Fever were able to get stops on the Mercury time and again, as they kept the game close in the first quarter. However, they were faced with a reciprocating resistance on their offensive end as Phoenix held a 26-24 lead at the end
of the opening quarter.
Fever finally broke through the Mercury defence early in the second and opened the period on 16-4 run. They outscored Mercury 26-15 in the second quarter on the back of some breathtaking downtown shooting from Pohlen. She nailed
all of her three’s in the frame as Indiana raced to a 50-41 lead at halftime.
Indiana kept the squeeze on in the third and managed to take 64-57 lead into the fourth. Mercury had some fight left though and they responded with a 22-10 run and by the time 03:38 were left in the regulation time, they stood
level with Fever at 74. A deadlock ensued after that. Temeka Johnson hit a pair of free throw with nine seconds to go in the final quarter to put Phoenix ahead by two points, 82-80. However, Davenport pinned lay-up to tie the game at 82, sending it into O.T.
Indiana came out strong in the extra time and sprinted to an 87-82 advantage with within the first two minutes. Taurasi then turned it on for Mercury and scored 5-of-5 free throws, tying the game at 87-87. Briann January’s lay-up
with 02:05 to go in the game, however gave Indiana a two-point lead 89-87 edge one again. Harris took over after that as Mercury scored six straight to salvage a come from behind win.
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