Mercury closes regular season with victory over Liberty

By Scott Mammoser

Mercury wins final regular season game over Liberty 96-85.

PHOENIX - After a tight first half, the Phoenix Mercury (20-14) took care of business, knowing it controlled its own destiny for playoff seeding, and ran away from the New York Liberty, 96-85, on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, the Connecticut Sun defeated the Los Angeles Sparks, 89-86, to lock up the fourth seed, and gave Phoenix a chance to slide into position No. 5 with a win. The Sparks owned the tiebreakers against the Mercury, so a loss to the Liberty would have matched Phoenix with the defending champion Lynx in the first round as the sixth seed.

Kia Nurse scored 22 of her 28 points in the first half and played the entire 40 minutes for the Liberty. The game was even at 27-27 after the first quarter, and the Mercury held a 49-46 edge at the break. The team stormed out of halftime with a Stephanie Talbot three pointer and outscored New York, 29-13, to take a 78-59 lead, while holding Nurse to two points. 

Talbot, who broke her nose early in the game, returned to score 18 points, second-most on the Mercury to DeWanna Bonner’s 23. Bonner also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.

“We knew we didn’t bring enough intensity for that first half and obviously Kia Nurse was on fire,” Mercury coach Sandy Brondello said. “We just needed to pick up our intensity and focus, and we’ve done that a lot over our past few games. It was all about getting that momentum at the right time.”

The Mercury shot 15-of-31 from downtown for the game and took a high lead of 21 points during the spurt.

“It’s important to us to get in the playoffs and make a run,” said Mercury guard Diana Taurasi, who scored 16 and passed Tamika Catchings as the WNBA’s career leader in made free throws on Sunday. “We’ve won three championships, so we know what it takes. It’s not easy, but we are willing to sacrifice and get it done.”

The New York Liberty definitely did not look like a team that was 7-27 during the first half. Even with former All-Stars Epiphanny Prince and Shavonte Zellous sidelined with injuries, the Liberty fought until the end. Nurse, the rookie from UConn who will play for Canada in the World Cup next month, found praise from Liberty coach Katie Smith following the game.

“She’s done a nice job,” said Smith, who will be inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame as a player on September 7. “She came in as a three baller, and she’s done a better job putting the ball on the floor, doing some of the things her coaches tell her to do. Her aggressive nature on both ends, she’s always bringing energy around the floor. Good things happen from start to finish, and I’m also impressed with the way she’s stepped right in with the mental approach, as well.”

The Mercury returns to the playoffs for the sixth-consecutive season at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday at Wells Fargo Arena on the campus of Arizona State University. A win sends it to Connecticut for the second round, which is also single elimination, on Thursday. The Sparks will host the Lynx, in a rematch of the past two Finals at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Seattle and Atlanta are the top two seeds and have double byes, while Washington is the third seed.