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Mercury-Sun Preview

Aug 26, 2015 - 6:48 PM The Phoenix Mercury enjoyed one of the spoils of winning a league title Wednesday, receiving a champion's welcome at the nation's capital.

Their chances at a repeat could be linked to their ability to finish in first place in the Western Conference.

Phoenix opens a three-game trip Thursday night against the struggling and depleted Connecticut Sun.

The Mercury (16-11) snapped a three-game losing streak with Sunday's 79-67 win against first-place Minnesota, pulling within 2 1/2 games of the West leaders. All three of Phoenix's WNBA titles have come after first-place finishes, including last year's, for which they were honored by President Obama at the White House on Wednesday.

Phoenix, which is 5-7 on the road, wraps up this trip Sunday with its final meeting with Minnesota.

"Minnesota brings out a spark in us and we needed that," Brittney Griner, who had 10 points, 11 rebounds and six blocks, told the team's official website. "Now we just want to be consistent. We don't want to get one win and go right back to what we were doing - we want to remember what we did today and how we played, just breaking down every quarter and just try to win a quarter and then if we keep winning quarters, we're going to win the game."

DeWanna Bonner scored a team-high 21 points to help the Mercury clinch a seventh playoff berth in nine years.

Griner was in the midst of her seven-game suspension for being arrested in a domestic violence incident when Phoenix lost 90-78 in double overtime to Connecticut on June 19. She leads the league with 4.4 blocks per game and is averaging a team-high 8.5 rebounds.

Connecticut's Kelsey Bone scored a career-high 27 points with 14 rebounds to help the Sun end the Mercury's franchise-record 22-game home winning streak.

The Sun (12-15), who are 3 1/2 games behind Washington for the East's final playoff spot, matched a season low for points in Tuesday's 71-57 defeat at Atlanta, their fifth straight defeat and third in 10 days against the Dream. Another loss would tie Connecticut's longest losing streak of the season June 30-July 19, and the remaining schedule isn't pretty. Six of the Sun's final seven opponents are no worse than third in their respective conference.

Alex Bentley, who leads the team with 14.7 points per game and scored 19 in the first meeting, has missed the last two contests with an ankle injury. Third-leading scorer Alyssa Thomas has missed five in a row, and it's uncertain if either will play.

These clubs have split the last four meetings in Connecticut, with the Sun winning 96-95 on June 12, 2014.