On Friday night's WNBA schedule, two of the top four teams in the Western Division faced off. The Seattle storm hosted the Phoenix Mercury at Key Arena in a game receiving national television coverage via ESPN2. While Phoenix came into the game off a disappointing loss to the Sparks, they managed to bounce back and edged Seattle by three points.
Two of the Mercury's points came by way of a rarity see in the WNBA, an emphatic dunk from leading scorer Brittney Griner. Here's the latest on how she and her team captured the 85-82 win in the Phoenix vs. Seattle game.
Game recap
In a close game throughout, Phoenix extended to a seven-point lead at halftime and led by six heading into the final quarter. While Seattle outscored them 15-12, the Storm ultimately fell short in tying or overtaking their opponents.
The league's new top overall scorer in history, Diana Taurasi had 25 points, as did teammate Brittney Griner, to give the Mercury 50 combined points of their 85 total.
Phoenix also outrebounded Seattle 36-31 with Griner pulling down nine of those boards and Chelsea Little getting seven. The two teams shot well with the Storm hitting at a rate of 47.5 percent compared to 46.4 percent for the visitors.
The play of the game was easily Brittney Griner's dunk which has now been making the rounds as a highlight clip on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
In the clip, the 6-foot-9 Griner is fed the ball in the lane, goes forward, rises up and slams it down with one hand as Storm opponents get out of the way. Luckily nobody from the Storm was posterized too traumatically, but it's unknown if the rim suffered any damage.
1,2, BOOM!
— WNBA (@WNBA) June 24, 2017
ICYMI @brittneygriner threw down this 💪 one-handed slam last night! #WatchMeWork pic.twitter.com/Zj12fZAZJQ
It's not the first time that the WNBA star has thrown it down in a game, nor is it the first time a WNBA player has.
The Los Angeles Sparks' Lisa Leslie has previously dunked in a game, including the WNBA All-Star game years ago.
However, Griner's put an exclamation point on the season she's been having so far with a league-leading 23.1 points per game to go with her 8.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 2.4 blocked shots per contest.
Standings & what's next
The Phoenix Mercury improved to 7-5 for the season with the win and moved within 1.5 games of the No. 2 team in the Western Division, Los Angeles. Next up for Griner and Phoenix will be a home game against the league's top overall team, the Minnesota Lynx, on Friday, June 30th.
With the loss, the Seattle Storm drop to 6-6 for their season. They're ranked No. 7 in the overall WNBA standings but are still holding the fourth spot in the West. The Dallas Wings are not far behind, though, with a 7-8 record. Seattle will try to bounce back on Tuesday, June 27th when they visit Elena Delle Donne and the Washington Mystics.