In a time of Phoenix’s greatest need for a victory, a reserve prolonged the Mercury’s season by filling a great need in the lineup in Game 3 of the WNBA semifinals against the Seattle Storm on Friday night in Phoenix.

With guard Stephanie Talbot out with a concussion, Yvonne Turner responded in her place with a career-high 19 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three steals in the 86-66 victory over the Storm at the Talking Stick Resort Arena.

The win forced a Game 4 to be played Sunday in Phoenix. Seattle leads the best-of-five series 2-1. Phoenix snapped a 10-game losing streak in the semifinals dating to 2015.

Talbot is also doubtful for Sunday. Turner will start in her place again with the same responsibility of helping Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner and Co. keep their season alive.

“She’s comfortable,” Phoenix coach Sandra Brondello said of Turner. “We try and give her a lot of confidence just to play your game. Don’t overthink it.”

Turner is no stranger to high-level competition with plenty on the line. The 30-year-old competes in Europe during the WNBA offseason. She led the EuroLeague in scoring in 2016-17 and helped her Hungarian team to the 2017-18 EuroLeague championship game.

“Just chatting to her last night, I knew she was ready,” Brondello said. “We had Steph (Talbot) on Sue (Bird), but Vonnie has more athleticism. That helped us. It allowed us to play better defensively. She did a great job on Sue … We were able to stay in plays a little bit more and contest more shots.”

Turner and Briann January limited Bird and Jewell Loyd to two points on 1-of-18 shooting, three days after the Storm duo combined for 32 points in an overtime win in Game 2.

“The thing about the WNBA is you always have to stay ready whether you play one minute or 40 minutes,” Turner said after making only her fourth start in her second season.

Seattle will attempt to rebound Sunday after finishing with its second-lowest scoring total of the season and shooting 36.7 percent in Game 3. The Storm attempted only five free throws, symbolic that they were not always aggressive against Phoenix’s effective defense.

“I wish I could give you all the answers,” Seattle coach Dan Hughes said. “We weren’t quite sure how they would adjust their lineup (without Talbot) and what impact that would have. In a lot of cases, it was transition defense.

“We certainly had some trouble guarding the basketball. Before they spread the floor really well, now they come at you with the dribble more sustained, so we’ve got to do a better job understanding what we’ve got to do in that phase or we’ll never get to the half-court defense.”