Diana Taurasi He didn’t arrive until the first half on Tuesday night.
The Phoenix Mercury The star was eliminated early in what quickly became a controversial rematch in last season’s WNBA Finals at the Wintrust Arena.
Taurasi led the track against Sky Star Candace Parker less than four minutes before the end of the second quarter on Tuesday night. When Taurasi created space before taking a float in the aisle, Parker reached out and slapped Taurasi’s arm as she climbed up. The slap wasn’t much, but it was clearly enough to send the ball off the mark – allowing Parker to grab the rebound and start taking the ball the other way.
But after the foul was not counted, Torassy was furious. I started yelling at the official under the basket almost immediately. Within a few seconds, Taurasi made two technical errors and was sent out of the match.
Torassi finished with five points and two rebounds after only 2 of 6 shots from the field in 13 minutes.
Although Taurasi’s expulsion seemed to briefly ignite Mercury’s spark, it didn’t make a difference in the end. Chicago held on to a 73-70 win over Phoenix, thanks in large part to a defensive posture in the recent period that held Mercury at just 11 points.
Tina Charles led Phoenix with 25 points and seven rebounds in the loss, which ranked sixth in a row and seventh in nine games. Skylar DeShields added 12 points and finished Diamond DeShields with 10 points and seven rebounds. They were the only three Mercury players to achieve double digits.
Courtney Vanderslot led the Chicago team with 18 points while he was shooting 6 out of 12 from the field. Sahle Cooper added 11 points and seven rebounds, and Parker finished with five points and 11 rebounds. Team Sky has now won three of the last four.
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