Highlights:
The San Antonio Stars were doomed by a poor third quarter as they fell 90-75 to the Phoenix Mercury in front of 9.048 fans inside Talking Stick Resort Arena on Thursday night.
Monique Curry lead the way for San Antonio with 19 points. Kayla Alexander continued her stellar play with 12 points and five rebounds. Kayla McBride added 12 for the Stars, who fell for the third straight game.
“I think I was aggressive to start the game,” Currie said. “Excited to be back in Phoenix, comfortable here. Got open looks. We knew that against a team as talented as Phoenix we couldn’t start out slow and start from behind, so I think we looked to be aggressive to start.”
San Antonio kept the game close until the third quarter. The Silver and Black were outscored 23-13 in the middle period as Phoenix led by as many 21 points.
“I thought they spurted in the third quarter, and we didn’t do a great job defensively to kind of answer the call,” Stars coach Dan Hughes said. “They have good players that started making plays and it made it really tough on us.”
The Mercury were led by Diana Taurasi’s 31 points, her season-high. Candace Dupree added 14 and Penny Taylor chipped in 13 for Phoenix (3-6), who have won three of their last five games.
Up next: The Stars are now 1-6 for the second straight season and will return to the court on Saturday when they welcome the New York Liberty to the AT&T Center at 7 p.m.
