Mercury slides to 2-3 after home loss to Mystics

By Scott Mammoser

PHOENIX – Kristi Toliver stepped up in the absence of Elena Delle Donne, scoring 30 points to lead the Washington Mystics to a 103-95 victory at the Phoenix Mercury on Wednesday night. Brittney Griner and DeWanna Bonner scored 27 and 25 points for the Mercury, which has lost three consecutively.

Phoenix Mercury has lost 3 straight games

“That’s my job,” said Toliver, who is averaging 15.2 points and is looking to return to her All-Star status from five years ago. “When we’re down a couple of people, everyone needs to elevate their game, and you have to do that both when you’re short people, but when you get people back. It’s good to have that experience to grow and know what they’re capable of in order to contribute.”

On the other side, the Mercury allowed Washington to shoot 65 percent from outside in a game where officiating dictated sour reactions from coaches, players and fans.

“We have some amazing athletes out there, and we just want to watch them play,” Mercury coach Sandy Brondello said. “I thought Washington had more advantages tonight. We can’t change the refs, but we know we can play better, and we have to have our game do the talking.”

After a tight opening first quarter, where no team led by more than four, Griner was 6-for-7 from the field with 13 points. The Mystics opened a 49-43 lead at halftime, with Toliver heating up and the defense holding Griner to two points. The lead swelled to 22 in the third, and the Mystics were on their way to improving to 5-1, a night after losing their first game- by four points at Seattle.

“We just have to play better, it’s as simple as that,” Mercury guard Diana Taurasi said. “I’m tired talking about what we need to do better and this and that. At the end of the day, it’s just a simple basketball game. You need to find a way to score more points than the other team, and we’re complicating ourselves with a lot of talk. We just need to do what we need to do to win the game.”

Mercury allowed Washington to shoot 65% outside

Washington snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Mercury and won in Phoenix for the first time since July 1, 2010. Ariel Atkins, the rookie from Texas, scored a career-high 21 points, and Tianna Hawkins recorded a double-double of 13 points and 12 rebounds, the first of her career.

Already missing Tayler Hill with a torn ACL and Emma Meesseman training with the Belgian national team for the upcoming World Cup, Natasha Cloud was sidelined with kidney stones, and Delle Donne was listed with an illness. In addition, Mercury center Angel Robinson, signed this week to replace the waived Imani Wright, did not see action.

The Mercury is at their archrival defending champion Minnesota Lynx (who are only 2-3 to start the season) at 5 p.m. on Friday (ESPN2), and after two more road games, returns home to face Chicago at 7 p.m. on June 8. The Mystics are at Las Vegas on Friday night.