PHOENIX – Kahleah Copper tallied her seventh 30-plus point game of the season with 34 as the Phoenix Mercury pushed away a slow first quarter, beating the Dallas Wings 100-84 on Wednesday afternoon.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Without Diana Taurasi due to injury, Brittney Griner scored 23 points, Natasha Cloud added 14 and Kiki Herbert Harrigan recorded a career-high of 12 for the Mercury (12-10).
Natasha Howard and Odyssey Sims both led the Wings (5-18) with 19 points each and Teaira McCowan ended with 15. Even though she scored 40 points in the first game of the season between the two teams, Arike Ogunbowale was able to muster just 13 in the matinee.
Wings controlled first quarter, Mercury took over from there
Out the gate, both teams were going neck-and-neck with each other despite miss after miss before the Wings got into a groove.
Besides eight points by Copper in the first quarter, Dallas went on a 21-12 run off of 10 points by Howard, leading 29-21. The last time Howard played the Mercury, she set a career-high of scoring 36 points in the Wings’ 104-96 loss last Wednesday.
But just when the Wings were cruising ahead of the Mercury, Phoenix recollected and made adjustments to its defense which translated to offense going the other way.
Fighting to get back in the game, Phoenix fell into foul trouble soon but made up for the infractions, responding on the next possession each time. From being down by nine, the Mercury tied the game 37-37 at one stage of the second frame before taking a 49-46 lead into halftime. Howard was limited to just nine points for the rest of the game.
“Shoutout to Kiki, she really stepped up,” Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts said about how the team limited Howard. “I kept her in the starting lineup because we wanted her to go to Howard. Obviously we had some switches with players down and not have Tash [Cloud] wrestling with a four. I thought Kiki did a good job of being physical and making Howard work, especially in the last few quarters.”
Our @AlecCipollini asked Phoenix Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts about what the team did differently to lock down Dallas Wings F Natasha Howard after she had 10 1st quarter points before being limited to six the rest of the game.#ValleyTogether #WNBA #VoltUp pic.twitter.com/iTBEwxUXhT
— Burn City Mercury (@BurnCityMercury) July 10, 2024
Seeing the momentum flip from them to Phoenix, Dallas was called for multiple traveling violations and fouls which came back to both haunt and frustrate them. Adding along to the fact that the Mercury shot 36-for-61 (59.0%) from the field and 9-for-21 (42.9%) from three, the Wings turned the ball over 15 times.
The ruckus crowd of screaming kids on Camp Day at Footprint Center created a rambunctious atmosphere with young, first-time watchers of the WNBA taking in all of what the sport has to offer.
“It sounded a lot like my house with two six-year-olds screaming and yelling,” Tibbetts said, jokingly. “I was kind of used to it. I enjoyed it, they were making noise even when there was nothing going on, they were just yelling to yell.”
“It sounded a lot like my house.”
With Camp Day at Footprint Center today and thousands of rowdy kids screaming and cheering for the Phoenix Mercury, coach Nate Tibbetts talked about the unique atmosphere when asked by our @AlecCipollini.#ValleyTogether #WNBA #VoltUp pic.twitter.com/zptNvYgFiA
— Burn City Mercury (@BurnCityMercury) July 10, 2024
Phoenix extended their lead even further in the fourth as the duo of Copper and Griner combined for 55 points. Up against the towering Howard and Teaira McCowan, Griner was still able to crash the paint offensively and present a strong presence defensively as she collected three steals and two blocks.
“I think you just get in a zone,” Copper said on another 30-plus point game this season. “Everything feels good, everything looks good, s*** is wide open. Me getting downhill is a credit to my teammates. Not just the screens, but understanding screening angles and I am surrounded by shooters… I have been put in the position to have success.”
Down by 23, the Wings closed the gap with an 18-11 run but the damage was already done well before the final frame began.
The Mercury outscored the Wings 48-38 in the paint and Dallas led in the rebound department, 26-22. Phoenix won the regular season series 3-1 vs. Dallas, and increased its winning streak to three consecutive games.
“We know what we have in our locker room. We have amazing players and we are just playing together, making the extra pass and that is what we did tonight and have done in the past couple games,” Herbert Harrigan said.
Next Games
Mercury: Away at Indiana Fever (9-14) | July 12 | 4:30 p.m. PT
Wings: Away at Los Angeles Sparks (5-17) | July 13 | 12:30 p.m. PT
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Reporter Alec Cipollini covers ASU Athletics, the Phoenix Mercury and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @AlecCipollini
