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Mercury-Monarchs Preview

Jul 10, 2009 - 6:59 PM By MATT BECKER STATS Senior Writer

Phoenix (9-4) at Sacramento (3-9), 10:00 p.m. EDT

Although the Phoenix Mercury have used a high-powered offense to reel off three straight victories and move to the top of the Western Conference, they're not about to overlook the last-place Sacramento Monarchs.

The Mercury look to win four straight games for the first time in more than a year and shake their recent struggles in Sacramento when they open a home-and-home series against the Monarchs on Saturday night.

After losing three of its final four games in June, Phoenix (9-4) has gotten off to a fast start to July. The Mercury, coming off a 90-70 victory over Chicago on Wednesday, are averaging 95.7 points during their three-game winning streak after averaging 86.0 in their previous four contests.

Against the Sky, Diana Taurasi scored the game's first six points as the Mercury built a 22-2 lead barely four minutes into the contest.

"If we can start like that every game it'll make life pretty easy for us," said Taurasi, who finished with 22 points, shot 8 for 10 from the floor, and added 10 rebounds for her first double-double of the season. "Going to Sacramento on Saturday we needed to take care of this one."

The Monarchs (3-9) already trail the Mercury by 5 1/2 games in the West, but they've managed to frustrate Phoenix at Arco Arena, winning three straight meetings there and six of the last eight.

The Mercury, who haven't won four consecutive games since June 24-July 1, 2008, opened this season with back-to-back victories before suffering a 90-71 defeat June 12 at Sacramento in the first game of another home-and-home set. Taurasi and Cappie Pondexter combined for 21 points for Phoenix, which finished with a season low in scoring

The Mercury looked much more comfortable one day later on their home court, responding with a 115-104 overtime win over the Monarchs. Taurasi scored a season-high 31, Pondexter finished with 22 and Phoenix set a season high in points.

While the Mercury rallied for three straight wins following the loss in Sacramento, the Monarchs couldn't carry any momentum from that victory, dropping their next six contests.

Sacramento recovered to open July with consecutive wins, but suffered a 66-55 loss at Seattle on Thursday.

Nicole Powell, the Monarchs' leading scorer (14.3), was limited to five points while shooting 2 of 9 as Sacramento finished with a season low in scoring and had 17 turnovers to 11 assists.

"I don't know what it's going to take for this team to figure it out," Powell said. "I think our team has had enough learning experiences and it's time to do something about it. I hope that we can rebound."

Powell had little trouble finding her shooting touch against the Mercury, totaling 47 points and making 8 of 17 3-point attempts in the two previous meetings this season.

These teams conclude the home-and-home series in Phoenix on Wednesday.