Mercury Even WNBA Finals With 91-86 Overtime Win Over Sky


PHOENIX (AP) — Brittney Griner dunked while scoring 29 points, Diana Taurasi had eight of her 20 points in overtime and the Phoenix Mercury evened the WNBA Finals with a 91-86 win over the Chicago Sky on Wednesday night in Game 2.

Griner kept the Mercury within reach of Chicago during a sluggish start and brought the Phoenix Suns players sitting courtside to their feet with her second career playoff dunk in the first quarter. She scored on a turnaround jump to help give Phoenix a late four-point lead in regulation, but just missed blocking Courtney Vandersloot’s tying layup with 4.4 seconds left.

“I mean BG was so big for us the whole game,” Taurasi said. “She’s just incredible. She kept us in the game when we weren’t playing well.”

Taurasi opened overtime with a four-point play and added a 3-pointer that put Phoenix up 89-86 with 1:24 left. She then came up with a huge defensive play, getting a steal with 36 seconds left.

Skylar Diggins-Smith, who had 13 points and 12 assists, sealed it on a layup with 12.8 seconds left.

“In overtime we let it rip,” Taurasi said. “We talked to each other and said it will be our best five minutes of basketball and it happened.”

Vandersloot led the Sky with 20 points and 14 assists. Allie Quigley added 19 points.

Game 3 is Friday in Chicago

Chicago overcame some early jitters and took advantage of the short-handed and fatigued to win Game 1 91-77. (Candace) Parker was a calming influence while scoring 16 points and Kahleah Copper scored 21 points.