UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Katie Douglas scored 19 points and Lindsay Whalen added 17 to lead the Connecticut Sun to a 75-68 win over the Sacramento Monarchs on Friday night in a rematch of last season's WNBA finals.
The Sun (20-6) extended their winning streak to a season-high six games and have done it without Nykesha Sales, the franchise's career scoring leader, who is sidelined with a sore Achilles' tendon. Sales has missed the last eight games, but the Eastern Conference-leading Sun have hardly flinched, going 7-1 in that stretch. Sales may be out at least one more week.
The defending champion Monarchs have had a tougher time of late, dropping three straight, all on the road to the top three Eastern Conference teams — Connecticut, Indiana and Detroit. Their loss to the Shock on Wednesday was a 20-point rout.
Taj McWilliams-Franklin dominated inside for Connecticut with 15 points and 14 rebounds, grabbing 10 boards on the defensive glass.
Nicole Powell led Sacramento with 17 points. She had 10 in the fourth quarter as the Monarchs whittled away at Connecticut's 17-point lead.
SILVER STARS 98, MERCURY 96: At San Antonio, Vickie Johnson scored a season-high 25 points, including the go-ahead layup past two defenders, and the San Antonio Silver Stars beat the Phoenix Mercury.
Phoenix, which has lost three straight, got 27 points from rookie Cappie Pondexter, 25 from Diana Taurasi and 22 off the bench from Penny Taylor.
The Mercury (11-15) missed a chance to tie when Taylor rebounded teammate Kristen Rasmussen's miss, but she missed the follow near the basket at the buzzer.
SKY 79, LYNX 65: At Chicago, Stacey Dales had 20 points and hit six of her nine 3-point attempts to help the Sky snap an eight-game losing streak. Candice Dupree added 19 points and four rebounds for Chicago (4-22) and Jia Perkins had 15 points. Vanessa Hayden had 16 points and eight rebounds for the Lynx (9-17), who lost their second straight game and fourth in five games.
Minnesota's Seimone Augustus — the WNBA's second-leading scorer at 22.4 points a game coming into Friday — had 17 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter.
SHOCK 77, STORM 67: At Seattle, Deanna Nolan scored 23 points to lead Detroit to its fourth straight victory over injury-plagued Seattle. Nolan scored 17 of her 23 points in the first half. Teammate Cheryl Ford, the league's leading rebounder at 11.5 per game, had 18 points and 18 boards. Storm center Cisti Greenwalt sustained a concussion on a hard foul with 1:22 left in the third and had to be helped to the locker room. Tiffani Johnson led the Storm with 15 points.