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Arlington, TX -- Three was the number of the night for the Dallas Wings, as they entered the first game of a three-game home stand coming off a triple overtime win in Phoenix on Saturday. On the other hand, the Phoenix Mercury came to Arlington hoping to play spoiler and even up the season series with the Wings after dropping the 3OT heartbreaker.
It was the Wings who would add another three to their board by picking up the W 100-90 to extend their win streak to, yup ... you guessed it, three.
Dallas has other ideas for the Mercury's revenge plans. Their loose pre-game vibes translated to the court as they jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead.
Odyssey Sims credits part of their recent success to their energy, "We've been starting games off better; that's something we struggled with. And we've been using that energy to take it into the next three-quarters."
Halfway through the quarter, the Mercury tied things up at nine thanks to a few Brittney Griner blocks on defense and careless Wings turnovers.
Just as Phoenix got in early foul trouble on Saturday, Dallas saw a similar story tonight as they sent the Mercury to the line nine times in the quarter. Diana Taurasi went 7-8 from the line, contributing to her team-high 15 first-half points.
With 0.5 seconds left in the quarter, Erin Phillips was fouled shooting a three and sank two of her three free throws to bring the Wings within two. Phoenix took the first quarter, 22-20.
Dallas would take the lead back on the first play of the quarter thanks to a three by Jordan Hooper. After back-and-forth action, the Mercury retook the lead. However, red-hot Hooper added two more threes to put the Wings back on top 35-32 with 4:46 left. She paved the way for Dallas with 11 points in the quarter.
The Wings moved the ball well, but unforced turnovers forced Dallas to take a timeout with a little over two minutes left in the half. Phillips got the Wings back on track immediately draining a jumper to extend the Dallas' lead to four.
Their lead would stay at four, as they headed to the locker room with a 48-44 lead. Hooper led the Wings with 11 third-quarter points, shooting a perfect 3-3 from beyond the arc. Griner was right behind Taurasi for the Mercury with 14.
Phoenix got on the board first in the second half. Skylar Diggins answered for Dallas scoring seven of their first nine points, which gave them back the lead and the momentum and forced Phoenix to take a timeout.
The intensity built, the play grew in physicality, and the crowd was loud - which only increased when Karima Christmas drained a three for the Wings. For the Mercury, however, it seemed that Griner always had an answer.
The Wings were not backing down, and neither was the crowd. The Glory Johnson-Brittney Griner drama seemed to be put to rest after their first meeting on Saturday, but this crowd knew, and they made their voices heard.
Dallas took a 76-63 lead with under a minute left in the quarter, partially thanks to shooting a massive 70.6% from the floor compared to Phoenix's 37.5%.
They would take a 76-65 lead into the final quarter after DeWanna Bonner capitalized on two of three free throws with five seconds left as a result of Aerial Powers getting a little too close on Bonner's three-point attempt.
On Saturday, the Mercury ran out of gas in the fourth quarter after a large lead. Tonight, Dallas tried to avoid the same happening to them.
The Wings continued their red-hot shooting in the fourth while Phoenix slowly ran out of gas, similar to Saturday. The Mercury made runs throughout the quarter, but the mountain was too big to climb tonight.
"We just had a hard time containing their guards, and we have them too many open shots," said Mercury head coach Sandy Brondello. "This is a good team. We're just not playing defense the way we know were capable of... It's something that we've got to address."
Diggins was the Wings leading scorer for the second game in a row with 20 points. She had help from Johnson and Sims, who put up 17 and 16 points, respectfully. Bonner led the way for the Mercury with 26 points, with 16 of those coming in the fourth. Taurasi scored 21 and Griner was close behind with 17.
The Wings didn't need overtime to close out this one. Dallas beat Phoenix for the second game in a row and extended their win streak to three games. The Wings take on the San Antonio Stars on Thursday for the second game of their three-game homestead. The Mercury head to Washington to face the Mystics on Friday.