Phoenix Mercury beat the Chicago Sky: What to know about the WNBA playoffs

With playoff hopes on the line for the Chicago Sky, the Phoenix Mercury made the road harder on them with a 93-88 win on Sunday. The Mercury ended a three-game skid.

Sunday’s loss for the Sky (13-25) pushed them out of the eighth and final playoff spot as the Washington Mystics (13-25) are the eighth seed.

Brittney Griner posted a double-double with 26 points and 10 rebounds, while Natasha Cloud added a double-double with 18 points and 11 assists.

Diana Taurasi recorded 25 points and had her fourth game with 20 or more points at age 42 or older.

Kahleah Copper, the Mercury’s leading scorer, missed her second straight game with a back injury.

Chicago has been playing without star rookie Angel Reese since Reese suffered a season-ending wrist injury last week. Reese had 26 double-doubles, the second most in a season, and earlier this summer set a WNBA record with 15 consecutive double-doubles.

Chennedy Carter made it harder on the Mercury during the second half and finished with 20 points to lead the Sky. Rachel Banham was a scoring threat from 3, going 5-for-11 from beyond the arc. She finished with 17 points.

The Mercury are the seventh seed in the WNBA playoffs behind the Fever (20-19). The Indiana Fever won 110-109 against the Dallas Wings on Sunday, and the Mercury’s win kept the Fever 1.5 games ahead of the Mercury. 

The Connecticut Sun (27-11) are two games behind the Minnesota Lynx (28-9) for the second spot and hold the tiebreaker after going 2-0 against them. The Sun lost 84-71 to the Las Vegas Aces.

The Mercury have two games to play, while the Fever have one game left. Indiana faces the Mystics on Thursday.

The Mercury next play on the road against the Los Angeles Sparks on Tuesday and wrap up the regular season by hosting the Seattle Storm on Thursday.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix Mercury beat Chicago Sky: What to know about the playoffs