Originally, Sunday night's meeting involving the Phoenix Mercury and Minnesota Lynx was set to be a rematch of two of the league's top centers. Instead, it was a one-sided matchup, as Brittney Griner sat on the sidelines due to injury and Sylvia Fowles led her team to an 81-66 home victory. Phoenix was also without the league's all-time top scorer Diana Taurasi. Here's a look at today's Mercury vs. Lynx game recap as well as the WNBA standings update and what's next for the two teams.

WNBA game recap

Today's Minnesota Lynx win came thanks to recently-named All-Star starter Sylvia Fowles.

The Minnesota center finished with 18 points 5-for-9 shooting and also grabbed five rebounds. Teammate Maya Moore was held to just nine points but also pulled down nine boards, while Rebekkah Brunson had 11 points. Guard Jia Perkins came off the bench for 13 points on 5-for-8 shooting. The Lynx also received 10 points apiece from bench players Plenette Pierson and Renee Montgomery.

For today's road game, the Phoenix Mercury were without Brittney Griner due to her recent bone bruise on her left knee suffered several days earlier against the Lynx. In addition, the team rested All-Star Diana Taurasi for the matchup. Due to the two stars sitting out, Phoenix seemed to struggle to find offensive firepower.

Monique Currie finished with 13 points and Danielle Robinson with 10 for the starters. Yvonne Turner came off the bench and went 7-for-12 to lead the team with 18 points in the losing effort.

The Mercury shot 40 percent for the game while Minnesota hit at a rate of nearly 42 percent. The home team had just 11 turnovers all game compared to 15 for the visitors.

An 18-point surge by the Lynx in the third quarter is what really helped them seal their victory over a Phoenix team lacking its top stars. That also gave Minnesota its 11th straight win in their last 11 games against the Mercury.

Standings & what's next

At 15-2 overall and 7-1 at home, the Minnesota Lynx continue to lead the Western Conference and overall WNBA standings.

They're currently ahead of the Los Angeles Sparks by 2.5 games. Next up, Minnesota will host the Dallas Wings at 1 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday afternoon.

Despite dropping to 11-8 overall, the Phoenix Mercury are still the fourth-best team in the overall WNBA standings. The Connecticut Sun (12-8) are slightly ahead of them for third place. The Mercury will visit the Indiana Fever on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time for their next game.
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