The top-seeded Phoenix Mercury look to head into the playoffs by sweeping a regular season-ending home-and-home series Sunday from the Sacramento Monarchs.
Diana Taurasi helped Phoenix (22-11) clinch its first regular-season Western Conference title since the WNBA's 1997 inaugural season on Friday, scoring 32 points in a 101-91 victory at Sacramento.
"It's a nice feeling, but it's not like there's any advantage," Mercury coach Paul Westhead said of his club's top seeding. "We're happy we're playing well and winning. ... We just had a champagne celebration -- with bottled water."
Phoenix's win also set the entire playoff picture in the West. The Mercury, who are in the playoffs for the first time since 2000, will face fourth-place Seattle in the best-of-three first round starting on Friday, while the slumping Monarchs (19-14) will meet second-seeded San Antonio beginning Thursday at Arco Arena.
"It feels great," said Mercury forward Penny Taylor, who scored 12 points Friday. "We've always been just on the edge of the playoffs."
The Mercury now look to close out the most successful regular season in team history by winning five straight games, while beating Sacramento for a sixth consecutive time.
Taurasi, the third-leading scorer in the WNBA at 19.0 points per game and a likely candidate for the league's MVP award, is the centerpiece of Phoenix's up-tempo offense. The Mercury are averaging 98.5 points over the last four games, and a league-high 89.0 on the year.
Taurasi is averaging 24.2 points in her last five games against the Monarchs.
Sacramento will try to solve Taurasi and the Mercury for the first time since May 20, 2006, when it beat them 105-78 at Arco, limiting Taurasi to 14 points.
The Monarchs have dropped the last two contests at US Airways Center since a 77-72 victory there to open the 2005 season, the last year they went on to win the WNBA title.
"I know we can do much better," Monarchs coach Jenny Boucek said after her club's sloppy performance Friday, which included 23 turnovers. "We're much, much better than that, and I hope we show it Sunday. It's all pride. I don't care if we're out on the playground. That's not us, and that's unacceptable for our team. We make things hard for teams, and we didn't do that tonight."
Sacramento will try to re-establish its stingy defense after yielding 101 points Friday. The Monarchs are allowing a conference-best 72.5 points per game, trailing only Indiana's league-low 69.8 defensive average.
Offensively, the Monarchs are led by Nicole Powell's 13.0 points per game. The forward is averaging 11.7 points in three meetings with Phoenix this year.
