Kahleah Copper, Mercury rough up Storm

Kahleah Copper scored 30 points, Brittney Griner had 28 and the host Phoenix Mercury cooled off the Seattle Storm with an 87-78 victory on Sunday afternoon.

Diana Taurasi added 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists, Griner grabbed nine boards and Copper had six in a game in which the Mercury (7-7) never trailed.

Nneka Ogwumike had 15 points and 11 rebounds and Ezi Magbegor had 14 points, eight rebounds and four assists to lead the Storm (9-5), who lost for just the second time in 10 games. Jewell Loyd and Skylar Diggins-Smith chipped in 14 points apiece.

Phoenix extended its 14-point halftime lead to 54-35 with 8:05 left in the third quarter. Loyd had four points and an assist to help the Storm get within 15 before the Mercury pushed the lead to 21 points on three occasions.

Jordan Horston made a 3-pointer and Joyner Holmes added three points to get Seattle within 66-51 by the end of the third quarter.

The Storm had their deficit down to 10, 72-62, following a Magbegor layup with 5:20 remaining in the final quarter. After Natasha Cloud made a free throw for the Mercury, Diggins-Smith set up Ogwumike's jumper and hit a 3-pointer to help the Storm get within 75-69 with 3:16 to go.

Griner answered with a three-point play and Copper soon added seven straight points to put the game out of reach.

Copper scored the first four points of the game and added seven more in the first quarter to help the Mercury open up a 25-19 lead after 10 minutes of action.

Phoenix led by as many as 13 in the opening period.

It was a four-point game early in the second quarter before Seattle went cold. The Mercury used a 13-0 run to go up 40-23 on a Copper triple with 3:57 left in the first half, and they took a 47-33 advantage into the break.

--Field Level Media