PHOENIX — Reserve Shey Peddy hit five 3-pointers and scored a season-high 20 points as the Phoenix Mercury beat the Chicago Sky 80-62 on Thursday night and won consecutive games for the first time this season.
Brittney Griner had 12 points and 11 rebounds. Megan Gustafson added 12 points and fellow reserve Shug Sutton scored 11 for the the Mercury (6-15), who got 45 points from their bench players. Phoenix was coming off a win over Connecticut on Tuesday.
Kahleah Copper scored 17 points for the Sky (8-13), who lost their fourth straight.
The Mercury led 50-32 following back-to-back 3-pointers by Sophie Cunningham and Michaela Onyenwere just over two minutes into the third quarter. Then, Copper rallied the Sky.
She scored 11 in the quarter and capped an 18-2 run with a pair of free throws after Cunningham was called for a technical. That made it 52-50 with 1:05 to go in the quarter. But in the last minute, Peddy hit consecutive 3s, and her buzzer-beater put the Mercury ahead 58-50.
Peddy opened the fourth quarter with another 3 and the Mercury pulled away.
The Sky struggled to score in the opening quarter, falling behind 22-8, and they trailed 40-29 at the half.
Griner had a free throw in the second quarter that gave her 4,821 points, second on the Mercury’s career scoring list. Diana Taurasi, who missed the game with a hamstring injury, is the franchise and WNBA leader at 9,929.