Mercury subdues Sky

The hometown girls fared well.

Just not the ones that the hometown fans were cheering for loudest.

The high-octane Phoenix Mercury, thanks in large part to Chicago products Cappie Pondexter and Tangela Smith, ran away with an 89-79 victory over the Chicago Sky Thursday night in front of 3,103 at the UIC Pavilion.

The loss is the fifth in a row for the Sky, which falls to 3-9. The defending WNBA champion Mercury, which needed overtime to defeat the Sky last week in Phoenix, improves to 6-7.

"It's always good to see old faces and friends and family," said Pondexter, who starred at Marshall and now ranks tops in the WNBA in scoring alongside teammate Diana Taurasi with about 25 points per game. "It's always a positive."

Pondexter, who scored 14 points against the Sky, said that getting to play the Mercury's style of basketball is also a good thing.

Phoenix leads the league in scoring with 87.4 points per game.

"It's fun to play on this team. I think every player here meets their (point) quota," laughed Pondexter, who was just one of six Mercury players in double figures. Guard Kelly Miller led the way with 17 points and Smith, a former Washington standout, had 16 points.

"We enjoy it," Pondexter said of the run-and-gun. "We all like to run, we all like to put up points. We're having fun with it."

The Sky couldn't say the same.

After hanging tough for much of the first half, the Sky stared down double-digit deficits for much of the second half. The Mercury's lead ballooned to as many as 15 points in the fourth quarter.

"We can't run with them and we shouldn't want to," said Sky guard Jia Perkins, who scored 18 points, just behind center Chasity Melvin, who scored a game-high 19 points and pulled down a career high in rebounds with 15.

"We needed to try to get some defensive stops and slow the game down," Perkins said. "They were scoring when they wanted and you can't win like that. I really think (breakdowns) on defense was the key."

Taurasi added 16 points for the Mercury while Le'coe Willingham and reserve Barbara Farris chipped in with 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Candice Dupree was the only other Sky player to reach double figures. She had 11 points.

"I don't know how the team is feeling right now, but I know I voiced my opinion (in the locker room)," Dupree said of the Sky's losing streak. "We need to get people motivated."