Notorious for its preferred fast-paced play, Phoenix set the tempo early Friday night, challenging the Atlanta Dream to counter with an explosive offense of their own.
The Dream matched the Mercury shot-for-shot early, but couldn’t find the punch to climb back from an eight-point halftime deficit.
The Dream grew tired down the stretch and lost to Phoenix 92-83.
The Mercury were led by guard Diana Taurasi’s 20 points, while forward Candice Dupree added 19. Four Mercury players scored 17 or more in the win.
Since losing their first three games, the Mercury have returned to form with three consecutive wins.
With the loss, the Dream fall to 2-6 — the team’s worst start since their inaugural 2008 season in which they mustered only four wins.
Angel McCoughtry led the Dream with 24 points — her second best scoring performance of the season. Lindsey Harding and Courtney Paris scored 13. For Paris, the points were a season high — she signed with the Dream last weekend — and she grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
Iziane Castro Marques’ 3-point shot gave the Dream their first lead, 3-2. However, that one-point advantage proved to be the Dream’s only lead of the game.
With 2:52 remaining in the first quarter, the Dream tied the game at 18. But the Mercury went on a 10-4 run to end the quarter and take a 28-22 lead.
The Dream’s Shalee Lehning opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer, cutting the lead to three. Sensing a threat, Phoenix raced to its first double-digit lead, but the Dream managed to trim the Mercury lead to 51-43 by halftime.
Phoenix extended their lead to 17 by the end of the third quarter, led by eight points from Kara Braxton, a former Georgia Lady Bulldogs player. Braxton scored 17 points in the game.
Despite the Dream’s best efforts to scratch away at the Mercury lead, Phoenix seemed to be waiting for them at every turn. A layup by Penny Taylor gave the Mercury a 20-point lead with 5:48 remaining in the game.
The Dream managed to cut the Phoenix lead to single-digits with 15 seconds remaining, on a layup by Harding.
On Sunday, the Dream host the San Antonio Stars, with tipoff scheduled for 3 p.m.
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