Tina Charles scored a season-high 29 points on 11-of-21 shooting, Diana Taurasi hit four 3-pointers and had 17 points and the Phoenix Mercury beat the Indiana Fever 93-80 on Wednesday night.
Charles, who led the WNBA in scoring (23.5 per game) for the New York Liberty in 2021, added seven rebounds, four assists and three blocks. The 2012 WNBA MVP signed with Phoenix in February, a day after the team acquired Diamond DeShields via a three-team trade in hopes of pushing the team back to the Finals — where the Mercury lost to DeShields and the Chicago Sky last season.
DeShields finished with 16 points and Skylar Diggins-Smith had 13 for Phoenix (6-9). The Mercury have won four of their last five games following a seven-game losing streak.
Kelsey Mitchell led Indiana (4-13) with 20 points on 10-of-20 shooting. Queen Egbo scored 14 points and Victoria Vivians added 10 but shot just 4 of 17 from the field. NaLyssa Smith, the No. 2 overall selection in April’s draft, tied her season low with four points on 1-of-7 shooting but grabbed 14 rebounds — for the second consecutive game.
The Fever, who beat Minnesota 84-80 on Sunday to snap a five-game losing streak, have lost 11 of their last 13 games.
Williams powers Sun past Dream
Courtney Williams scored 20 points and the Connecticut Sun made 14 3-pointers in a 105-92 victory over the Atlanta Dream on Wednesday night.
Connecticut (11-4) had its highest points total since a 109-88 win over Las Vegas on Aug. 5, 2018. The Sun set a franchise record for 3-pointers in a half, going 10 for 15 in the first.
Connecticut rebounded from an 83-79 loss Friday night to the defending champion Chicago Sky for its fifth win in the last six games.
Natisha Hiedeman scored a season-high 18 points, Jonquel Jones had 15 points and nine rebounds, Brionna Jones added 12 points and DiJonai Carrington 11 for Connecticut.
Williams hit a pull-up jumper before she and Hiedeman made back-to-back 3-pointers as Connecticut scored the first eight points in an 18-3 run that gave the Sun the lead for good midway through the first quarter. Jones hit two 3s in the spurt before Alyssa Thomas capped it with a layup that made it 27-14 about 2 minutes later.
AD Durr led the Dream (7-7) with a career-high 21 points. Aari McDonald had 19, and Rhyne Howard added 14. Atlanta (7-7) has lost three in a row and four of five.
Plum, Wilson help Aces clip Wings
Kelsey Plum scored 27 points, A’ja Wilson added 25 points and the Las Vegas Aces beat the Dallas Wings 92-84 on Wednesday.
Chelsea Gray had 16 points and eight assists for Las Vegas (12-2), which also beat Dallas 84-78 on June 5 behind a career-high 32 points from Plum. Dearica Hamby had 16 points and 12 rebounds, and the Aces starters accounted for all 92 points.
Plum, who entered needing nine points to reach 1,500 in her career, scored 14 in the first half. Plum also made a 3-pointer in her 21st straight game.
Arike Ogunbowale led Dallas (6-8) with 28 points. Marina Mabrey, who missed the last two games due to health and safety protocols, added 18 points. Satou Sabally did not play due to a knee injury.
Ogunbowale made all three of her shots in the first quarter to help Dallas build a 23-14 lead after Las Vegas shot 36.8%. The Wings led 44-35 at the break, behind 17 points from Ogunbowale, for only their fourth halftime advantage of the season.
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