Phoenix Mercury fall below .500 in chippy loss to Las Vegas Aces

The Phoenix Mercury couldn’t get their rhythm back and instead had a costly 97-79 loss against the Las Vegas Aces on Sunday at Footprint Center.

The Mercury fell below the .500 mark and suffered the third-straight loss in the ongoing five-game homestand. A’ja Wilson tied her season record with 41 points and 17 rebounds. She had a double-double in the first half with 23 points and 11 rebounds.

Brittney Griner led the Mercury (16-17) with 24 points, while Sophie Cunningham added 16 points off the bench.

“The last two games we haven’t done those little things that make our offense work,” Diana Taurasi said. “When it’s working, we think, ‘Oh, it’s because we’re playing well’. You have to do certain things to make it work. Basketball is a two-way street… We haven’t been particularly good on either side so it’s causing us to really struggle on offense as well.”

The Aces took advantage of the Mercury’s sloppy play in the first quarter, catapulting on an 11-0 run started by Wilson’s driving layup. The Mercury couldn’t stop her from down the middle and couldn’t defend her from mid-range as she accounted for 15 of the Aces’ 29 points in the first quarter.

After surrendering an 11-0 run, the Mercury could never close the double-digit deficit.

The Aces played largely without starting point guard Chelsea Gray, who took a charge and a kick to her torso from Kahleah Copper as she drove down the middle at 8:36 in the second quarter. Gray was helped off the court and suffered a back injury that kept her out of the game.

Gray’s injury didn’t slow down the Aces as they scored 13 unanswered points midway through the second quarter to maintain their double-digit lead.

“That’s probably the most frustrating part. I believe we’re a good team, the team believes we’re a good team, the fans believe we’re a good team,” coach Nate Tibbetts said. “We’re searching right now. We’re not a very good team at the moment. I still believe in the group, but we have to be better.”

The Aces dominated the Mercury in all areas, especially along the boards with 35 rebounds to the Mercury’s 24. Kahleah Copper led the Mercury with six rebounds.

Taurasi and Natasha Cloud both earned their seventh technical fouls of the season during the game. Those will result in one-game, unpaid suspensions for Tuesday’s game against the Atlanta Dream.

Cloud earned hers at 4:24 in the second quarter, while Taurasi earned hers at 7:39 in the third.

Copper earned her sixth technical foul at 5:40 in the third and is one foul away from a one-game suspension. The Mercury lead the WNBA with 33 technical fouls, a single-season record for the league.

With an ongoing two-game losing skid, the Mercury have fallen one game behind Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever in the playoff seedings and are at seventh. The Fever are on a four-game win streak. Eight teams make the postseason.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Mercury falls below .500 in chippy loss to Las Vegas Aces