Brittney Griner was feeling “springy” Saturday night.

Back in her home state of Texas and playing with her sister and other relatives in attendance only added to motivation for the Phoenix Mercury center, who put down her 13th WNBA career regular season dunk in an 89-85 win over the Dallas Wings.

The jam, at 7:06 of the fourth quarter at College Park Center in Arlington, was a no-doubter off a feed from Skylar Diggins-Smith, playing her first game back in Texas since 2018 when she was with the Wings.

“I was super hyped,” said Griner, who flexed her arms after her first dunk since Aug. 10, 2019, also against Dallas. “As soon as I caught it, I knew. I pretty much figured I was probably going to get one today. I attempted one earlier, but I was too far out and I just hit the rim and got fouled. Everybody was like whoa, and I was like I’m feeling springy today. Thirty years old, I can still get up there.”

The Mercury (3-3), who never trailed, led 71-62 after Griner’s dunk. They had a subsequent 12-1 run to lead 87-73 with 1:45 left and held on to end a two-game losing streak, improving to 2-1 in Commissioner’s Cup play.

Dallas (1-4) suffered a fourth consecutive loss, by a combined 20 points.

Griner, who is from Houston and played in college at Baylor, was special for more than the dunk. She scored 27 points for a second straight game and had 15 rebounds, four assists and a block.

In the absence of injured Diana Taurasi, Griner and Diggins-Smith (21 points/6 rebounds/7 assists) are proving that the Mercury remain a WNBA contender. Additionally, guard Kia Nurse scored a season high 21 points, shooting 5-of-10 from 3-point.

“We need another scorer,” Mercury coach Sandy Brondello said. “You need that third scorer and fourth would be nice for us. It kind of opens it up for everybody. There’s nothing better for a shooter than to see that first one go in.”

Nurse had five points in the Mercury’s 9-0 game-opening run that they stretched to a 21-5 lead at 3:21 of the first quarter. Phoenix led 26-17 after the first, 44-37 at halftime and 67-60 going into the fourth but couldn’t pull completely clear of the Wings even after their late fourth-quarter run.

“The last two minutes, I don’t know what it is about this team wanting to make every game interesting. We still can finish the fourth a little bit better. I didn’t think we went on a big run like that vs. Vegas (85-79 loss Wednesday). We were punching each other back and forth. Tonight we were able to stretch it out a little bit, and that’s what we needed to finish the game.”

The dunk, still rare in women’s basketball, was “insane” from Diggins-Smith’s perspective. She was driving, in front of Kayla Thornton, to draw Kristine Anigwe away from Griner, who rolled to the basket uncontested for an easy jam.

“I was screaming at her to dunk it,” Diggins-Smith said. “She can do that ever night if she wants to. For it to happen like that in the fourth quarter, legs a little bit tired, it was a huge momentum play for us. You have to be happy to have her on your team.”

Nurse received a similar thrill from the first dunk by one of her teammates in the pros (Breanna Stewart put one down when they played together in college at Connecticut).

“That was phenomenal,” Nurse aid. “It was so much fun. What BG brings us every single night, not only with the dunk but how many points and rebounds and anchoring the defense. I’m glad it was on my team.”

Up next

The Mercury are at the Chicago Sky (2-3) on Tuesday before returning home to again play the Sky on Thursday. The Sky first play Los Angeles on Sunday. 

Reach the reporter at [email protected] or 602-444-8053. Follow him on Twitter @jeffmetcalfe.

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