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Mercury sick about frustrating loss to Fever
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Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi, center, slips through the defense of Indiana Fever\'s Ebony Hoffman, left, and La\'Tangela Atkinson, to score during the second quarter of a WNBA basketball game Friday.
The Associated Press
This one hurt. The Mercury have suffered losses before, but something about Friday's wild 83-73 defeat to Indiana at US Airways Center stung a bit more. The locker room was a little emptier and a lot quieter. Players didn't have much to say, bothered by a game which got away quickly, resurfaced, then disappeared.
The final straw came with 50 seconds left. Phoenix cut the lead to 75-72 and forced an Indiana miss. Kamila Vodichkova cleared the rebound, but her pass to Crystal Smith was picked off by former Mercury guard Anna DeForge in the backcourt.
DeForge made the layup, and rookie Cappie Pondexter was called for a flagrant foul. DeForge crashed into the basket in pain, but came back to make the free throw. Catchings made two more free throws and the lead was back to 81-73.
Mercury coach Paul Westhead quickly earned his second technical arguing the flagrant foul, and the night was over.
"I've gotten them for worse things in my career," Westhead said of his dismissal.
For Pondexter (14 points, two rebounds, one assist), it was the second of two forgettable plays.
The rookie phenom helped the Mercury (4-7) claw within 65-61 midway through the third quarter, but fouled Tamika Catchings on a 3-pointer, which became a four-point play and pushed the lead back to nine points.
Two plays, however, rarely determine an outcome. The first 20 minutes did.
Phoenix averaged 11 turnovers per game, but committed 12 by halftime and missed a half-dozen gimmes. The Fever led 10-2 after four minutes and left Phoenix for dead, ahead 44-28.
The Mercury finally awoke early in the third quarter. Behind Smith and Vodichkova, Phoenix found its energy and enthusiasm. Indiana cooled off and its lead shrunk to single digits.
The two Tamikas — Catchings and Whitmore — combined for 46 points to lead Indiana (10-4). Diana Taurasi had 21 for Phoenix, but the team's big three (Taurasi, Pondexter, Vodichkova) shot a combined 16-of-41.
"We gave ourselves a chance to come back, but we got too far down against a team like that," point guard Kelly Miller said.
But they came back until the final minute.
"It was weird," Miller said.
Expansion Chicago comes to town Sunday night, which didn't leave a subdued locker room much time to sulk. "We've got a game in one or two days," said a distraught Pondexter. "We've got to let it go and learn from it."
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