PHOENIX (AP) -- With Jennifer Gillom virtually silent in the
first half, Phoenix coach Cynthia Cooper had to find a way to fire
up the Mercury's best offensive threat.
The friendly approach did the job.
"I sat her down just before the second half, and I said, 'Jen,
we need you here. We need you to go out there and play,"' Cooper
said.
Gillom, who was simultaneously dealing with the effects of a
concussion and trade rumors, responded by scoring 14 of her 18
points in the second half of a 59-50 win over the Utah Starzz.
"She was the answer to my prayer when she came up and said, 'We
need you to step up big-time right now,"' Gillom said. "When she
said that, something clicked in me and I was ready to go."
Gillom took an elbow to the forehead at the end of a victory
Thursday night over Portland, the other team battling the Starzz
and Mercury for fourth place in the Western Conference, and it
wasn't certain she would return.
She felt fine two days later, and her play inspired her
teammates to new highs -- Maria Stepanova had 15 points and a
career-high five assists, and rookie Jaynetta Saunders had
season-highs of 12 points and nine rebounds.
The Mercury overcame a 12-point deficit to win their season-high
third straight game and move within 1 1/2 games of idle Portland and a
half-game of Utah (9-11) in the race for the final playoff berth
from the conference.
"We grew up tonight," Cooper said. "We showed that in the
last five minutes we can put it all together and come away with
some baskets. We showed that we can play great defense against a
talented team."
Starzz rookie Marie Ferdinand matched her season-high with 19
points, including 15 in the first half. Natalie Williams, back in
the lineup after sitting out one game because of a stress fracture
in her left ankle, had 11 points and 11 rebounds for Utah, which
dropped to 4-3 since Candi Harvey took over after Fred Williams
resigned as coach.
The Starzz led 35-23 after Ferdinand hit a jumper 1:39 into the
second half.
Michele Timms started Phoenix's surge with her only basket of
the game at the 16:31 mark. Lisa Harrison made a 3-pointer and
Gillom made two putbacks in the next 4:20 as Phoenix closed within
37-32.
Three straight baskets by Gillom gave the Mercury their second
lead of the game, 44-43, with 7:46 to play.
After Ferdinand answered with a short jumper to put Utah ahead
46-44, Saunders hit a jumper to tie and Kristen Veal sent the
Mercury ahead for good, 49-46, with a three-point play with 4:12 to
go.
Phoenix scored the last seven points on free throws in the final
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ALSO SEE
WNBA Scoreboard
Utah team page
Phoenix team page
Mercury wouldn't rule out trading top scorer Gillom
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