Jun 30, 2024; Phoenix, Ariz., U.S.; Phoenix Mercury guard Sophie Cunningham (9) celebrates a 3 level basket towards the Indiana Fever throughout the fourth quarter at Footprint Heart. The Phoenix Mercury haven’t any time to dwell on their newest loss.
After falling to the Indiana Fever, Phoenix will probably be again in motion on Monday evening when it completes a back-to-back with a gathering towards the visiting Connecticut Solar.
Regardless of getting 24 factors and 6 rebounds from Brittney Griner and 19 factors from Diana Taurasi on Sunday, the Mercury (9-9) dropped to .500 with an 88-82 loss towards Indiana. Phoenix was outscored 50-33 over the ultimate 20 minutes of motion.
“We have a fast turnaround for a recreation (Monday),” Mercury guard Natasha Cloud stated. “So it is resetting and refocusing.”
Phoenix coughed up a 15-point lead within the setback, however Taurasi believes the errors the Mercury made are fixable.
“We’ll study from it and get higher,” Taurasi stated. “We would have liked higher motion. These are all issues which might be in our fingers and controllable.”
Connecticut (14-4) may additionally use a lift. The Solar are simply 1-3 over their previous 4 video games, and they’re coming off Friday’s 78-74 loss to the Atlanta Dream.
DeWanna Bonner completed with a team-high 17 factors for Connecticut, which additionally obtained 15 factors from DiJonai Carrington and 14 from Alyssa Thomas. The Solar try to turn out to be much less predictable, and coach Stephanie White has been transferring level guard Tyasha Harris off the ball at instances to offer the crew’s offense a unique look.
“It allowed her to be only a spot-up shooter,” White stated.
Monday marks the second recreation of the four-game season sequence between the groups. Taking part in in Uncasville, Conn., on Could 28, the Solar cruised to a 70-47 victory over Phoenix behind 19 factors from Bonner.
Nobody on the Mercury scored greater than 9 factors within the loss. Phoenix shot simply 23.8 % (15 of 63) from the sphere.
Nonetheless, Phoenix was with out Griner for that recreation, as she was coping with a toe harm on the time. In eight video games this season, Griner ranks second on the Mercury with 19.9 factors per contest to go together with a mean of seven.4 rebounds.
Phoenix may also be hoping for a house crowd much like Sunday’s. Over 17,000 followers packed into Footprint Heart, partly as a result of star rookie Caitlin Clark taking the ground for the Fever. The Mercury have but to lose two dwelling video games in a row this season.
Bonner is averaging a team-high 16.7 factors per recreation for Connecticut.
–Subject Stage Media