Diamond Miller had 25 points, six rebounds and five steals as the visiting Minnesota Lynx defeated the Phoenix Mercury 86-76 on Saturday night.
Napheesa Collier added 16 points and nine rebounds and Rachel Banham scored 13 points for the Lynx (7-9), who started the season 0-6 but have four wins in their last five games.
Brittney Griner scored 23 points, Moriah Jefferson added 14 points and seven assists and Sug Sutton and Michaela Onyenwere each scored 10 points for the Mercury (3-12), who fell to 1-2 since Vanessa Nygaard was fired as coach last weekend.
Sutton scored six points as part of an 18-5 Mercury run that gave them a 55-51 lead.
Kayla McBride scored five points during a 10-2 run that the Lynx used to close the third. Minnesota led 61-57 heading into the fourth.
Lindsay Allen made a basket and had two assists as Minnesota opened a 76-63 lead just over midway through the fourth quarter.
Shey Peddy’s three-point play ended a scoring drought of nearly 3 1/2-minutes for Phoenix, which got within eight points twice in the last two minutes but couldn’t get any closer.
Griner scored six points during a 10-0 run that gave the Mercury a 12-2 lead in the first quarter.
Miller ended the run by making a jumper and Collier added a basket to get the Lynx within six.
Phoenix rebuilt the lead to nine before Miller and Banham each made two free throws to pull Minnesota even at 22, and Miller’s 3-pointer gave the Lynx a 25-22 lead at the end of the frame.
The Mercury went scoreless for the final 1:08 of the first quarter and the first 3:49 of the second as Minnesota took a 29-22 lead.
Jefferson’s basket ended the drought, and her three-point play pulled Phoenix within 34-31 with 3:43 left in the first half.
Allen had six points and an assist to help the Lynx expand the lead to 12 points before taking a 46-37 advantage into the break.
–Field Level Media
