Brittney Griner registered 22 points to lead five Phoenix scorers with at least nine, and the Mercury snapped a six-game losing streak with an 85-63 rout of the visiting Indiana Fever on Thursday.
Phoenix (3-11) never trailed and took the lead for good 2:17 into the first quarter when Diana Taurasi sank a 3-pointer to break a 4-4 tie.
Taurasi shot 4 of 9 from beyond the arc and finished with 17 points. The veteran guard also dished a game-high six assists, setting the tone as Phoenix had assists on 28 of its 34 field goals.
Griner and Brianna Turner each distributed three assists, while Sophie Cunningham, Michaela Onyenwere and Sug Sutton each passed for four. Sutton also scored seven points off the bench and knocked down one of the other two Phoenix 3-pointers made by a shooter other than Taurasi.
Onyenwere made the other, part of her nine points off the bench. She also pulled down a team-high seven rebounds. Turner scored 11 points.
Both Sutton and Onyenwere shot 1 of 3 from outside, and the Mercury were 6 of 19 overall, 31.6 percent, from beyond the arc.
Indiana (5-10) went 6 of 17, 35.3 percent, from 3-point range but finished just 18 of 55, 32.7 percent, from inside the arc. Phoenix shot 28 of 45, 62.2 percent, on 2-point field-goal attempts, led by Griner’s 10-of-16 effort.
Moriah Jefferson, who finished with nine points, shot 4 of 7 from the floor and Turner shot a perfect 5 of 5 for the Mercury in just their second win in the past 11 games. Thursday also marked their first victory under interim coach Nikki Blue, in her second game.
Blue took over for Vanessa Nygaard, who was fired on Sunday following the fifth loss in Phoenix’s six-game skid.
Indiana took its third consecutive loss to complete a four-game road trip. Kelsey Mitchell scored a team-high 15 points, and NaLyssa Smith contributed 10 points and nine rebounds. Aliyah Boston also pulled down nine boards, but Phoenix held the rookie All-Star to six points.
–Field Level Media
