SEATTLE–After cutting the deficit to two late in the fourth quarter, the Storm was unable to complete the comeback as a late 13-3 run from Phoenix handed Seattle the 84-72 loss on Sunday night.

“We still had chances to stay in it but we didn’t really execute down the stretch,” Storm guard Sue Bird said. “It is a work in progress, but obviously today we played much better, much tougher, than we did the other night and we just have to keep getting better.”

Bird got the Storm started in the second half when she dribbled towards the left baseline and pulled up for the mid-range jumper to cut the lead down to six. After a steal by Crystal Langhorne, Bird hit the break and found a cutting Alysha Clark for the easy layup to make it a 44-40 game.

The Storm (2-4) kept it close and were able to battle through nine third quarter points from Phoenix’s leading scorer DeWanna Bonner and enter the fourth trailing 64-57.

After a Candice Dupree bank shot fell to give the Mercury (3-3) a 70-61 lead, the Storm fired back with three straight baskets of their own, including back-to-back from Crystal Langhorne to cut the deficit to three.

Langhorne led the Storm with 13 points on 6-for-11 shooting and seven rebounds.

“Lang plays very well on the move, and Sue can pretty much find who is open, so they are getting a chemistry that comes from a couple of years playing together,” Storm head coach Jenny Boucek said. “They do have a pretty good chemistry in terms of the two-man game.”

With Seattle down four, Bird broke free and took the open three but it bounced on the rim twice before coming off and the extra bounce allowed time for Bird to sneak into the lane for the board and the putback jumper to make it a 71-69 game.

Bird recorded 11 points to go along with eight assists.

Phoenix buckled down after that and rode Bonner the rest of the way as she scored seven of her game-high 23 points during a 13-3 run to put the game out of reach.

The Storm will be back in action on Thursday at KeyArena when it hosts Minnesota.

Seattle and Phoenix both pushed the tempo early on and the Storm got five early points from Jenna O’Hea as well as some solid half court defense that held the Mercury without a field goal for 3:09 towards the end of the quarter.

That defense, which held Phoenix to 7-for-21 from the field in the first quarter, allowed the Storm offense to come through as it got a boost off the bench from Renee Montgomery, who quickly scored six points in the first quarter, and held a 21-19 lead after one.

In the second quarter, Phoenix took advantage of several trips to the free throw line and two threes from Cayla Francis during a 13-4 run to begin the period as the Mercury took a 32-25 lead. Francis scored 11 points in the half.

Later in the quarter, Bird found Ramu Tokashiki in transition for the layup to cut the Phoenix lead back to four at 38-34 but a 6-0 burst capped by a pair of free throws from Tiffany Bass pushed the lead back to 10.

NOTES
The reigning WNBA Defensive Player of the Year and Phoenix center Brittney Griner was not with the team on Sunday as she was serving the sixth game of her seven-game suspension… Sue Bird scored 11 points against Phoenix on Sunday and is now only 15 behind Sheryl Swoopes for 13th on the all-time list… Alysha Clark had a near double-double with 11 points and a career-high nine rebounds.