Phoenix Mercury (4-8) at Dallas Wings (5-7)
Date: Tuesday, June 21st
Time: 7:00 PM (CDT)
Site: College Park Center
Television: ESPN2
Probable Starters
Wings: Karima Christmas, Glory Johnson, Courtney Paris, Odyssey Sims, Skylar Diggins
Mercury: Diana Taurasi, Penny Taylor, Brittney Griner, Sonja Petrovic, Candice Dupree
Storylines
The Wings and Mercury face off for a second time this season in back-to-back games after a 3OT battle in Phoenix on Saturday night. Odyssey Sims scored 10 points in the third overtime to seal the 117-111 Wings win. Dallas has now won two straight after dropping the previous six.
Dallas trailed by 17 late in the third quarter on Saturday. Wings guard Skylar Diggins scored 12 in the fourth quarter, the most by any Wings player in a single quarter this season, to lead the comeback. The Wings outscored the Mercury 28-12 in the fourth, capped by a Glory Johnson putback layup with 10 seconds remaining to tie the game.
Five Wings players scored in double-digits for the second straight game, led by Diggins’s 27. Diggins, Plenette Pierson (18), and Glory Johnson (15) reached individual highs in scoring for the season.
Dallas center Courtney Paris reclaimed the top of the leaderboard with 12 rebounds on Saturday. Paris now leads the WNBA with 9.8 rebounds per game and has grabbed a league-leading 46 offensive rebounds.
Mercury head coach Sandy Brondello played for the Wings organization in 1998 and 1999 when the team was based in Detroit. Brandello was named a 1999 WNBA All-Star and led the team in scoring both years.
What the Wings are saying about Tuesday’s rematch…
Assistant coach Bridgett Pettis- “Phoenix is a championship caliber team. It’s going to take us being smart and more disciplined, and be just as aggressive as Saturday night to beat them again.”
Forward Glory Johnson- “We just have to play better as a whole. We got the win on Saturday but it took three overtimes because we weren’t playing our best game. We’re at home this time so there is no reason why we shouldn’t be playing our best game when they come in here. We should be comfortable. If everyone contributes somehow, I think it will be a win.”
Guard Erin Phillips- “We’ve got to play better. They are going to come in very aggressive. They wanted to win Saturday night, you don’t like losing close ones like that on your home floor. We’re expecting them to come in and be aggressive, so we’ve got to take it up another step.”
Forward Plenette Pierson- “It’s going to take more focus than we had on Saturday. We didn’t play our greatest game, but we showed our resiliency and really went out there and just played. To beat Phoenix in our place, after beating them once already, will just take a lot of effort and focus.”