Mercury earn first back-to-back wins of season

Sep 2, 2012, 12:58 am

PHOENIX -- DeWanna Bonner had 22 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots to lead Phoenix past the San Antonio Silver Stars 94-90 on Saturday night, giving the Mercury back-to-back for the first time this season.

Diana Taurasi added 25 points and four assists for Phoenix (6-19), which moved out of last place Western Conference and handed the Silver Stars (17-9) their fourth loss in five games.

Danielle Robinson converted a three-point play with 37 seconds left to cut the Mercury's lead to 88-86, but Taurasi passed to Krystal Thomas in the lane for a basket with 19 seconds remaining to help secure the win.

San Antonio's Becky Hammon was called for traveling on the subsequent possession to end any threat.

Sophia Young had a career-high 32 points and eight rebounds, and Danielle Adams added 21 points for San Antonio, which fell two games behind second-place Los Angeles with eight games to play.

The Silver Stars gave Phoenix its franchise-worst loss, 89-47, in their last visit here on Aug. 19.

Adams picked up her fourth and fifth fouls in a 6-second span early in the second half. She sat out more than 10 minutes, returning in the final 7 minutes of the game, to score 10 points in the final period.

The Mercury didn't allow Hammon -- San Antonio's second-leading scorer -- a basket until the 2-minute mark of the third quarter.

Briana Gilbreath had 13 points, making her first three shots, including two 3-pointers, to lead the Mercury off the bench.

Phoenix led 52-41 at the break, scoring more points in a half than it did in the entire loss to San Antonio 13 days ago.

The Mercury snapped a 10-game losing streak with a win at Seattle on Thursday and hadn't won at home since beating Washington 80-77 on June 20.

Phoenix made 5 of 7 from beyond the arc to stay within 27-24 after one quarter but then the Mercury scored 18 straight points in the second period to take its 11-point lead into the half.

It was the Mercury's first game with five players in double figures and its highest scoring total of year.