Losers of six of their last seven games, including three straight at home, the Phoenix Mercury are now thinking about survival in their WNBA playoff hunt.

Before their recent skid, which coincides with losing power forward Sancho Lyttle to a season-ending knee injury June 30, the Mercury were 14-5 and challenging the Seattle Storm for the best record in the WNBA.

Coming out of the much-needed All-Star break, the Mercury are now 15-11 and only one game ahead of the No. 8 (and final playoff) team Connecticut.

The Mercury lost their last game, a 101-87 setback against Chicago, without veteran guard Diana Taurasi, who served a one-game suspension for excessive technical fouls. Fellow All-Star Brittney Griner also ejected in the third quarter of the game.

Taurasi, Griner and All-Star forward DeWanna Bonner will be together again for the matchup against Seattle, which tops the WNBA with a 19-7 record.

In an attempt to make up for the loss of Lyttle, the Mercury on Monday signed 28-year-old forward Devereaux Peters to a seven-day contract. Originally selected with the third overall pick of the 2012 WNBA Draft by the Minnesota Lynx, Peters will make her 2018 WNBA debut with the Mercury as she enters into her sixth WNBA season.

“We need a veteran, someone who’s played in the league before,” Mercury coach Sandy Brondello said. “It’s hard for a rookie to come in and make an impact. We need a little bit more depth.”

Seattle, which is 1-1 against the Mercury this season, including an 87-71 win in Phoenix on May 23, is preparing to face a hungry team with only eight regular-season games remaining.

“There will be a lot of games that will have a playoff feel,” Storm coach Dan Hughes said. “This team is learning from those experiences, win or lose.

“We’re collecting data and understanding ourselves in those situations. For this team, it’s a good learning process. … Win or lose, we need to play in those games and have the experience of learning what we did well or hopefully not too many situations what we didn’t.”

Storm forward Breanna Stewart leads the WNBA averaging 22.8 points a game.

“The only thing that I’m focused on is winning these games,” Stewart said. “Winning a scoring title is nice, but so what. Winning a MVP (trophy) is nice, but that’s not what you play for, at least I don’t.”