Phoenix Mercury 44 vs. Los Angeles Sparks 41 – WNBA Game Halftime analysis
Phoenix Mercury haven’t had the best of times in the last two weeks or so. However, coming off the back of their first back to back win for nearly a month, they blew away the Los Angeles Sparks early in the game to hit the ground running. The Sparks however mounted a comeback bridging the last few minutes of the first quarter and the second to make the scores 44-41 at the end of first half, here in Staples Centre tonight.
At half time, Penny Taylor led Mercury with 12 points; Diana Taurasi had 8, while the hero of last night’s game against the Atlanta Dream, DeWanna Bonner had 5 points and 6 rebounds. Jantel Lavender led the Sparks with 12 points.
Mercury were in their zone early and after going 5-4 down inside the first two minutes, they reeled off a eight point unanswered run to race to 14-5 lead. Jantel Lavender hit a jumper for Sparks to nip the surge, however it was followed by a flurry of three’s which propelled Mercury to a 23-7 lead.
Staring at a 16 point lead with 3:09 to go in the first frame, struck back and dominated the rest of the period 8-3 to make the scores 26-17. At the end of the first quarter, Taurasi led all the scorers with 8 points.
Mercury stretched their lead to 12 points early in the second, but Sparks countered with a 15-6 burst capped by a trey from Noelle Quinn, to make it a three point game (39-36) with 2:22 left in the first half. Penny Taylor knocked down a shot from outside the arc on the next Mercury possession to restore a six point lead, but Lacy slipped in a driving layup to bring the scores at 42-38.
About a minute later, Taylor struck again, this time with a layup, but Quinn nailed down a trey on the other end as the teams went into the break with Mercury leading by 44-41.
After starting well, Mercury went cold from the floor and finished the first stanza with a 47.2 percent shooting. Sparks on the other hand, were 50 percent from the floor including 4 of 7 from down town. However they committed 11 turnovers as compared to just 5 by Mercury.
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