Phoenix Beats San Antonio, Really!
DT, Triple-K Contribute to 81-72 Triumph
Mercury’s orbit around the sun is the fastest – one might say it’s got quicksilver.
The Phoenix basketball team of the same name proved that they’ve gelled together the quickest. They handed the visiting San Antonio Silver Stars an 81-72 defeat at the U.S. Airways Center on opening night in the WNBA. The victory pushes their winning streak dating back to last season to 8.
In effect they give the Valley of the Sun some bragging rights against Alamo town, following Phoenix’s frustrating series loss in the NBA to the Spurs.
“What I said to our team was ‘we have a lot of games, and your only goal is to win them, then you proceed,’” says Mercury head coach Paul Westhead. “We got off to a good start.”
Phoenix led by as many as 22 in quarter number 2. Despite being outrebounded 35-30 in total, and outscored 44-33 in the second half, they kept their defense and offense in check and held on for the win.
“I think the first half is always important,” says Mercury guard Diana Taurasi. “Sometimes you play too fast and you get caught up in the energy of the crowd, but I think today we did a good job of setting a good pace and it worked throughout the game.”
Taurasi, a Gemini (ruling planet: Mercury!), finished with team highs in both scoring and rebounding, 20 and 6 respectively. All of her boards were defensive. Newly acquired Tangela Smith scored 17 and collected 3 rebounds.
“We came out and we wanted to be aggressive,” says Smith, acquired by Phoenix from the Minnesota Lynx in exchange for 2007’s number one draft pick, guard Lindsey Harding. “We have to build off this and continue to play like this.”
And who among the 10,401 that attended the game could forget the effort poured forth from the three Kelly’s? From the bench, Kelly Mazzante threw in 12 points, while her same-name teammate Schumacher was second in rebounds with 5.
Kelly Miller’s 15 points came from her going 6-for-9 in field goals and 6 assists.
“I think the fact that we have everyone back for the start of the season; I think that helps,” Miller says. “We definitely want to get out to a good start.”
San Antonio’s new recruits tend to agree.
“Our second half was encouraging,” says Silver Star forward Erin Buecher. “But we were a little rusty…we obviously have a lot to work on, but we know that’s not anything near what we’re capable of.”
San Antonio has a lot of incentive to shine down the road. Four of their five starters scored over 10 points Saturday. Becky Hammon racked up 15 points, Sophia Young 14, Marie Ferdinand-Harri and Ruth Riley each drilled 11.
They head home for a showdown with the always-challenging Connecticut Sun, May 23rd. Connecticut has already proven they can win on the road though, having beaten the Mystics 89-80 in Washington Saturday.
The Mercury meanwhile travel to Seattle to take on the Storm.
“You have to coach being 1-0,” admits Westhead about going into the upcoming game. “It took me five games last year to get a win; that is progress!”
