SEATTLE–After making it a two possession game in the third quarter, the Storm struggled to take care of the ball and Phoenix took advantage with a big run to end the period as Seattle dropped the contest 94-79 on Friday night.

“They turned up the pressure,” Storm head coach Jenny Boucek said of Phoenix. “There are times when we don’t have extra in the tank, so when these teams are going up a notch, lately we have had a hard time matching that increase. And I thought that happened here tonight. They went up a notch and we just couldn’t quite get there.”

After battling in the first half to remain in striking distance, the Storm entered the second half trailing by 12 and got a shot in the arm from Alysha Clark.

With the shot clock winding down on the opening possession of the quarter, Abby Bishop drove and found an open Clark on the wing for the three. On the next time down the floor, the Storm found Clark again for another three and it cut the Phoenix lead to 46-40.

Phoenix’s Leilani Mitchell hit a three to increase the Mercury lead to nine but the Storm answered and got a basket from Bishop to make it a seven-point game.

But every time the Storm made a push, Phoenix pushed right back. They forced six Seattle turnovers and scored 11 points off those miscues to end the quarter on an 18-3 run. Eight of the 18 came from Leilani Mitchell, who scored 12.

The Storm will see Phoenix again on Sunday at 3 p.m. when it travels to the desert for the second straight matchup with the Mercury.

Bishop and Sue Bird connected on consecutive jumpers and it cut the early Phoenix lead 10-8. The Phoenix offense, which had been clicking early, found basket after basket and went on a 13-0 run to take a 23-10 advantage.

The Mercury shot 55 percent from the field in the quarter and got eight points from DeWanna Bonner. She finished with 15 points.

“Game by game we try to look at our opponent and figure out strengths and weaknesses and what we want to do to try to be successful,” Bird said. “They are a very good team and you can’t take that away from them. I think that for us to play well we just have to play a that really fast, up-tempo pace.”

The Storm chipped away at the beginning of the second and had consecutive threes from Jenna O’Hea and Sue Bird to cut the Phoenix lead to eight.

Still trailing by eight, Seattle watched Phoenix attack the paint and go on a 7-0 run to go up 44-29. The Mercury had 22 points in the paint in the half.

NOTES

Jewell Loyd made her return to the starting lineup and it was her first start since June 9 at Tulsa… Ramu Tokashiki missed a free throw on her third attempt of the night. It was her first career miss after hitting the first 22… Renee Montgomery had a team-high 14 points off the bench… Phoenix had four players in double figures, led by 16 from Candice Dupree… Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis came off the bench and scored eight points in the fourth on 2-for-2 from the field and 4-for-4 from the line.