Storm drives Mercury away and could bid Diana Taurasi farewell from home

Seattle's Nneka Ogwumike had 17 points and eight rebounds as the Storm defeated the host Phoenix Mercury 89-70 on Thursday night in what may have been the final home game of Phoenix legend Diana Taurasi's career.

Taurasi, 42, has not officially announced she is retiring after this season, but the Mercury hinted in promotional material that Thursday could be Taurasi's final appearance. Among those in attendance were former WNBA icon Sue Bird and UConn coach Geno Auriemma – Taurasi's college coach from 2000 to 2004.

The three-time champion and 2009 league MVP scored nine points by making 3 of 6 shots from 3-point range, raising her league-record total to 10,646 points in 565 regular season games.

The Mercury (19-21) enter the WNBA playoffs as the No. 7 seed and could still host a playoff game if they tie the first two games of their best-of-three first-round series with the second-seeded Minnesota Lynx.

The result of the final regular season game on Thursday had no impact on the ranking of the two teams. The Storm (25-15) are the No. 5 seed and will face the No. 4 Las Vegas Aces in the first round.

All five Storm starters scored in double figures. Skylar Diggins-Smith and Mercedes Russell each scored 14 points, Sami Whitcomb had 11 with eight rebounds and Gabby Williams scored 10. Joyner Holmes added 10 points off the bench.

Seattle had more shots on goal overall than Phoenix (44.9 percent to 38.1 percent) and outshot the Mercury with 39 of 18 three-pointers.

Brittney Griner scored 11 points and 8 rebounds to lead Phoenix in scoring. Sophie Cunningham and Natasha Mack each scored 10 points.

Seattle used a 14-0 run to build a 33-9 lead late in the first quarter. Diggins-Smith and Whitcomb hit 3-pointers to open the run.

The Mercury pushed the Storm hard in the second quarter, allowing only eight points. Seattle made 68.2 percent of its shots in the first quarter and only 25 percent in the second. The Mercury got within 10 points, but had to settle for a 43-31 deficit at halftime.

The Storm regained a 20-point lead with another three-pointer from Diggins-Smith, making it 60-40 with 3:02 left in the third quarter. They held the Mercury to about 20 points for the rest of the night as fans' attention turned to Taurasi and a postgame celebration in her honor.

Mercury leading scorer Kahleah Copper (back) returned after a three-game absence and scored four points in 25 minutes.

The Storm were without their top scorers Jewell Loyd (knee) and Ezi Magbegor (concussion). Both missed their third game in a row.

–Field level media