WNBA: Brittney Griner scores 21 points as Phoenix Mercury beat Atlanta Dream to claim final playoff spot
Friday 30 August 2019 07:09, UK
Brittney Griner scored 21 points as the Phoenix Mercury grabbed the final WNBA playoff spot with a 65-58 victory over the Atlanta Dream on Thursday night.
Phoenix Mercury 65-58 Atlanta Dream
Brittney Griner scored 21 points as the Phoenix Mercury grabbed the final WNBA playoff spot with a 65-58 victory over the Atlanta Dream on Thursday night.
It's the seventh consecutive postseason berth for Phoenix (15-15).
Griner, the only player in the league averaging over 20 points per game, finished 7-of-12 from the field and made 7-of-8 free throws. She had eight rebounds and four blocks.
The Dream got within three on Renee Montgomery's three-pointer with 21.1 seconds left, but two free throws each from Briann January and Griner sealed the win.
Atlanta (7-23), in the WNBA cellar, scored just six points in the first quarter before closing within one with 4:36 left in the third. But Griner scored six straight points late in the period for an eight-point edge.
The league's all-time leading scorer, Diana Taurasi, played in her third straight game after missing all but one of the Mercury's first 26 games after back surgery. Her shooting struggles continued, going scoreless on six attempts. She missed all seven shots in her previous game and is just 2-of-26 since returning.
Montgomery led Atlanta with 20 points.
Los Angeles Sparks 87-83 Indiana Fever
Chelsea Gray scored a career-high 30 points and tied a franchise record with seven three-pointers, leading the Los Angeles Sparks to an 87-83 victory over the Indiana Fever.
Gray scored 20 points, including five triples, in the Sparks' 33-point third quarter that erased a nine-point half-time deficit and gave them a four-point edge heading into the fourth quarter.
The Sparks went up by 11 points early in the fourth quarter. The Fever closed within two with 29.1 seconds remaining before Gray clinched it with an 18-foot jumper with 6.9 seconds left.
Gray was 11-of-21 shooting, including 7-of-9 from beyond the three-point arc.
Teaira McCowan had 24 points and 10 rebounds for Indiana (11-20), who were eliminated from playoff contention. McCowan tied a franchise record with her third straight double-double.
Indiana's Candice Dupree scored 17 points and moved into second place in the WNBA for career field goals with 2,632. She passed Tina Thompson.
The victory leaves the Sparks (19-11) in third place, two games behind second-place Connecticut and a half-game ahead of Las Vegas in the race for playoff seeding.
Dallas Wings 88-83 Chicago Sky
Arike Ogunbowale scored eight of her 35 points in the fourth quarter as the Dallas Wings snapped a four-game losing skid with an 88-83 victory over the Chicago Sky.
The Sky (18-13), who are playoff-bound for the first time in two seasons, have lost consecutive games after winning three in a row.
Ogunbowale matched her career-high in scoring and added six assists. She also surpassed 500 career points and is the first rookie in league history to have seven consecutive 20-point games. Isabelle Harrison had 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Wings (10-20). Allisha Gray added 16 points and Glory Johnson had 10.
Courtney Vandersloot had 19 points and seven assists to lead the Sky. Diamond DeShields had 17 points, Allie Quigley 16 and Stefanie Dolson finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
The game was tied 75-all when Ogunbowale scored four of the Wings' next nine points and Dallas moved out to an 84-79 lead with 52.2 seconds left. Quigley hit a jumper that pulled the Sky within three points before Ogunbowale and Gray sealed the victory at the free-throw line.
