Mercury Easily Keeps Pace, Routing Silver Stars, 91-57

Diana Taurasi got fired up. That was bad news for the San Antonio Silver Stars.

Taurasi scored all 16 of her points in the first half, and Phoenix beat the Silver Stars, 91-57, Friday night in the largest margin of victory in Mercury history.

Phoenix’s biggest margin had been 33 points, done four times, the most recent against Charlotte on June 22, 2000.

“We knew this was an important game, especially coming off the bad Houston loss [Thursday],” Taurasi said. “We really, really needed this game to get us going.”

Anna DeForge and Sandora Irvin added 12 points each for the Mercury (15-15). Only one Mercury starter played more than 21 minutes.

“It was huge,” said Phoenix Coach Carrie Graf, whose team maintained a one-game lead over the Sparks. “Obviously we got in the position to rest the starters a bit.”

Shyra Ely’s 13 points led the Silver Stars (7-25).