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Tuesday, Jun. 20 8:00pm ET
Pettis' 22 points provide lift in rout | |||||
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BOX SCORE
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Bridget Pettis scored a season-high 22 points and the Phoenix Mercury pulled away in the second half to beat the Minnesota Lynx 74-55 Tuesday night. It was the second straight loss for the Lynx, following a five-game winning streak. Minnesota shot just 38.6 percent from the field while being held to its season-low point total. "We mixed our defenses up and we kind of kept them off balance a little bit," said Phoenix coach Cheryl Miller. "We made a concerted effort as a team to win the boards, and we were disciplined." Phoenix's lead was only 33-30 at halftime, but it opened the second half on an 8-2 run, keyed by six points from Tonya Edwards. Edwards finished with 16 points, while Pettis, who went 8-for-13 from the field overall, scored 13 points in the first half for the Mercury (6-3). "Tonight we just stayed focused for the whole game, played hard defensively and got rebounds," said Pettis. "When we're running the offense we should have some easy layups and some inside shots, and that's what happened tonight." Betty Lennox led the Lynx (6-4) with 14 points. Minnesota's Katie Smith, fresh off being named the WNBA's player of the week, played all 40 minutes of the game. But she struggled offensively. Smith opened the night by missing her first three shots and wound up with 10 points on 4-for-15 shooting. "I had really good looks and couldn't knock them down, and we didn't get to the free-throw line enough," said Smith. "We need to keep this one in our minds, but maybe it's out of our system and we can move on." The Mercury avenged a 69-62 loss to Minnesota last Saturday in Phoenix. "It all starts with effort and execution, and we didn't have it tonight," said Minnesota coach Brian Alger. "Phoenix clearly came in here hungry and really turned up the defense in the second half." By winning the opener of a seven-game road trip, the Mercury improved to 3-2 in road games. | ALSO SEE WNBA Scoreboard RECAPS Phoenix 74 Minnesota 55 AUDIO/VIDEO   Brandy Reed makes the bounce pass to Lisa Harrison for the layup.avi RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Bridget Pettis makes the steal and goes the distance for the layup.avi: 710 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 | |||||