WNBA Capsules

BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) — Diana Taurasi and Brttney Griner each scored 22 points and Phoenix beat the Chicago Sky 96-86 on Thursday night for the Mercury’s fourth straight win.

The Sky darted to a 16-8 lead before the Mercury went on a 24-2 run in the last four minutes of the quarter and led by 14 at the end of the first. Taurasi tied the game at 16 with a 4-point play, Brianna Turner followed with a layup and Phoenix led the rest of the way.

Just before the break, Taurasi made a 3-pointer with 2.2 seconds left to steal some of Chicago’s momentum, and the Mercury (4-2) led 55-49. In the third, following Courtney Vandersloot’s 3 to bring the Sky within 60-59, Taurasi hit a pair of 3s within under a minute to again blunt Chicago.

Skylar Diggins-Smith and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough added scored 17 apiece in the win.

Vandersloot led the Sky (4-2) with 21 points, Kahleah Copper 18 and Allie Quigley 13.

STORM 93, DREAM 92

Breanna Stewart scored 27 points and the Storm made all 10 of their free throws at the end to fend of the Dream and Chennedy Carter.

The Storm (5-1) made 25 of 27 foul shots, and the Dream (2-4) buried three 3-pointers in the final 13.5 seconds.

Carter led the Dream with a career-high 35 points — tied for the fifth most by a rookie according to the Elias Sports Bureau . Carter finished 11-of-17 shooting, including 3 of 4 from 3-point range and made all 10 of her free throws.

The last player in the WNBA with 35 or more points in a regular-season game was the Indiana Fever’s Kelsey Mitchell who scored 38 points against the Connecticut Sun on Sept. 8, 2019.

Carter, the No. 4 draft pick out of Texas A&M, became the first rookie in Dream history to score 25 or more points in consecutive games.

SUN 91, WINGS 68

Brionna Jones scored 17 points and Alyssa Thomas scored 15 to help Connecticut get its first win of the season with a rout of the Wings.

The Sun (1-5) raced to a 13-0 lead, were up 23-8 at the end of the first quarter and were largely never contested the rest of the way.

Natisha Hiedeman and Jasmine Thomas scored 14 points apiece and the Sun finished shooting 36 of 66 (54.5%).

Arike Ogunbowale led Dallas (2-4) with 17 points, and Isabelle Harrison and Tyasha Harris off the bench scored 12 and 10 respectively.