Phoenix Mercury’s Sophie Cunningham ejected in loss to Lynx; Caitlin Clark, Fever close in

With their frustrations boiling over because of the officiating, the Phoenix Mercury couldn’t get a handle on the Minnesota Lynx on Wednesday at Footprint Center.

And Caitlin Clark‘s Indiana Fever tightened the playoff race with an upset victory against Connecticut.

The Mercury’s 89-76 loss to the Lynx included three technical fouls, including two that caused Sophie Cunningham to be ejected from the game.

“Offensively, we’re in a funk. There’s no way to deny that,” Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said. “We need to be better offensively. We had 10 turnovers in the first quarter and it leads to that offense.

“Our execution, our spacing, all the way across the board. We need to use these next couple of days to get better. We got to figure it out and there’s eight games to go.”

Cunningham drew two technical fouls within five seconds of each other in the final three-plus minutes. She received her second after taunting the Lynx following her layup and foul from Napheesa Collier, who also received a technical foul.

The ejection came during a game where Cunningham found her stride as the sixth player. With Monique Billings starting in favor of a bigger lineup, Cunningham posted 16 points and six rebounds, sharing the team lead in scoring with Diana Taurasi.

“There’s so much we can’t control as players and maybe I can control my emotions a little bit more,” Cunningham said. “But honestly, I didn’t want to. I think sometimes a team needs that.

“I was feeling good tonight finally and I’ve been dealing with some stuff. It felt good to kind of be back. Now, we just need to be consistent and all together and have that spark.”

Tibbetts received a technical foul with 1:43 remaining in the third quarter. The Mercury lead the league with 30 technical fouls.

Tibbetts inserted Billings into the starting five to stimulate the glass game against a lengthy Lynx lineup. The Lynx finished with 39 rebounds, but the Mercury were right behind with 37. Brittney Griner and Natasha Mack led the Mercury with seven rebounds.

After starting the game up 5-3, the Mercury gave up a 17-0 run that deflated the team’s energy. The Lynx took advantage of the Mercury’s miscues throughout the first quarter and scored 18 points off 10 turnovers.

The Mercury’s defense again had trouble against the Lynx in the second half, giving up a 10-0 run during the third quarter.

Kayla McBride scored eight points on 3-of-4 shooting during that span, knocking down two 3s, and helped the Lynx gain a 20-point lead. McBride finished the quarter with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting.

McBride led all scorers with 19 points on 5-of-12 shooting and went 3-for-7 on 3-pointers.

The pressure on the Mercury (16-16) mounted when the Fever (15-16) upset the Connecticut Sun, the WNBA’s second-best team, on Wednesday. The Fever now are a half-game behind the Mercury (16-16) for the sixth seed and hold the season series tiebreaker after sweeping the Mercury.

“The last two games, we’ve struggled as much as we’ve struggled all year offensively,” Tibbetts said. “We’re out of sorts, but I feel like we’ve continued to compete.

“We’re not excited that Sophie got kicked out, but she was trying to bring some life. We don’t want to lay down and quit, we want to keep fighting and we just got to keep fighting.”

The Mercury will continue the home stretch against another of the WNBA’s top teams when the meet the Las Vegas Aces (18-12) on Sunday at 1 p.m.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Sophie Cunningham ejected in Mercury’s loss to Minnesota Lynx