Diana Taurasi’s long standout career is filled with accomplishments, but scoring more points than her age on Thursday was quite a stunner.
Taurasi also became the first WNBA player to reach 10,000 career points and is certainly beaming with confidence entering the Phoenix Mercury’s home game Saturday night against the Seattle Storm.
The 41-year-old Taurasi scored 42 points on Thursday — 32 in the second half — as the Mercury (7-19) broke a four-game losing skid with a 91-71 home win over the Atlanta Dream.
Taurasi is the oldest player in WNBA history to score 40 in a game and the first to reach the mark four times in a regular-season game. She completed the contest with 10,024 career points.
“It’s pushing the limits,” Taurasi said after her latest milestone. “When you love something and you’re passionate about something, you push the limits. …
“It’s not my record, it’s not my number. It’s gonna be a number that will be broken at one point by someone that loves basketball as much as I did. Willing to give up moments that you take for granted for moments that are legendary.”
Taurasi will be looking to help Phoenix defeat the Storm (6-20) for the first time this season. Seattle won the first two encounters by an average of 18.5 points.
Taurasi struggled in both games, going scoreless in 23 minutes on June 13 and putting up 13 points in the rematch 11 days later.
Seattle is coming off Wednesday’s 76-65 home loss to the Dallas Wings. It came after the Storm won back-to-back games for the first time this season.
Seattle’s Jewell Loyd scored 31 points to raise her WNBA-leading scoring average to 24.6 points per game. She is chasing Taurasi’s single-season record of 25.3 set in 2006.
It was the eighth 30-point effort of the season for Loyd, who missed a span of 5:04 of the first period due to a right ankle injury before returning to outscore fellow star Notre Dame product Arike Ogunbowale of Dallas (27 points).
“I don’t really make it a one-on-one battle,” Loyd said afterward. “It’s bigger than that. For me, I’m just trying to get to my benchmarks. If any player gets hot, regardless of who it is, they can get going.
“We both have that capability of doing that, but it’s never about a one-on-one thing with me.”
Phoenix center Brittney Griner (mental health) has missed the past three games. Her status for Saturday was unknown as of early Friday evening.
–Field Level Media