Mercury vs. Sparks: Noemie Brochant Drops Career-High 24 as Phoenix Snaps a Three-Game Skid With 94-87 Win

The Phoenix Mercury turned the ball over 23 times on Tuesday night and played without Kelsey Plum. Kahleah Copper accounted for eight of those giveaways all by herself. At the Galen Center, with the Los Angeles Sparks ahead 81-78 and under five minutes to play, this had the look of a fourth straight loss.

Then a rookie decided she had seen enough. Noemie Brochant scored a career-high 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting, piled up five steals and helped Phoenix close on a 16-6 run for a 94-87 win that put a three-game losing streak to bed.

Sixteen Lead Changes and No Breathing Room

Neither team ever led by more than seven in this one. Brochant scored 12 in the first quarter alone, and that was the difference between Phoenix being level at 23-23 and being in a hole. Los Angeles won the second 24-21 and took a 47-44 lead into the break.

Phoenix came out and ripped off 10 straight in the early minutes of the third to turn a 49-44 deficit into a 54-49 lead. The Sparks clawed back, and the Mercury carried a 68-67 edge into the fourth. By then the lead had changed hands so often that the scoreboard operator deserved hazard pay.

Nneka Ogwumike's 18-foot pull-up with 4:56 left put Los Angeles up 81-78 and looked like the start of something. It turned out to be the end of something.

The Turning Point: Eight Straight When It Counted

DeWanna Bonner's free throw with 4:03 left got Phoenix moving. Brochant's running layup off a Sami Whitcomb pass tied it at 81 with 3:33 to go. Copper's free throw put the Mercury ahead, Brochant ran out for another layup at 2:22, and then she turned passer and fed Alyssa Thomas for a running layup at 1:58. That made it 86-81. According to the Mercury, a zone defense helped force the Sparks into mistakes down the stretch, and Los Angeles went 3:49 without a point.

Ogwumike finally ended the drought with a 25-foot 3 at 1:07 to make it 86-84. Thomas answered with a layup at 49.6 seconds, then made two free throws on the next trip. Ariel Atkins banked in a 24-footer with 22.4 seconds left to make it 90-87, the kind of shot that ages a coach a full year. Bonner then knocked down four straight free throws, and that was that.

The Rookie Joins a Very Old List

Brochant's line needs a minute: 24 points, three rebounds, three assists, five steals, 3 of 6 from deep and 3 of 3 in the fourth quarter. The Mercury say only two other rookies in WNBA history have had 20-plus points and five-plus steals in a game while shooting at least 75%. Cynthia Cooper did it in August 1997 and Yolanda Griffith did it in July 1999. That is very good company for somebody who was still learning the league's terminology earlier this season.

"It's great to see her be aggressive," Thomas said. "We know what she's capable of."

Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts kept it simpler. "She just played with a lot of force all night, and that was important," he said.

Thomas scored nine of her 16 in the fourth and finished with seven rebounds and nine assists, one more of those nights where she seems to be everywhere at once. Copper scored 18 around those eight turnovers. Bonner's 11 points came with seven rebounds, three steals and three blocks, and she finished plus-17. Whitcomb had seven points and a game-best plus-20, and Natasha Mack gave Phoenix nine off the bench on 4-of-4 shooting.

Plum, whom the Sparks had traded a little over a week earlier, sat out the reunion, according to the AP. Left calf tightness had limited her to 14 minutes in Sunday's 95-75 loss at Washington.

For Los Angeles, Dearica Hamby scored 19 on a perfect 8-of-8 shooting night. Rae Burrell also had 19, but it took 21 shots, including 0 of 8 from 3, and she leaned on 7-of-8 free-throw shooting and six assists to make the night useful. Ogwumike came close to a triple-double with 18 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.

Stats That Matter

• 10 of 13: Brochant from the field, or 76.9%.
• 23 turnovers: Phoenix's total, which Los Angeles turned into 24 points. The Mercury survived it anyway.
• 23 of 30 vs. 16 of 22: Free throws. Phoenix made seven more in a game decided by seven.
• 7 of 32: Los Angeles from 3. Burrell, Erica Wheeler and Atkins combined to go 2 of 20.
• 22 of 35: Phoenix inside the arc, which more than covered for all those wasted possessions.

What It Means

Phoenix improved to 13-22, including 8-12 on the road, and finished its five-game road trip at 2-3. The Mercury also split the season series with Los Angeles 2-2. Now they head home to host Portland on Sunday, the day the team plans to raise Diana Taurasi's No. 3 jersey to the rafters, with nine games left on the schedule.

"I think it's just about finishing strong and taking it one game at a time," Thomas said.

Los Angeles fell to 12-20 and 5-11 at home with its second straight loss. The Sparks head to New York for a Thursday game, and they will need a lot more than 7 of 32 from deep to make that one interesting.

Final Word

This win was put together like IKEA furniture: extra screws on the floor, a couple of panels on backward, and instructions nowhere to be found. Somehow it held weight anyway. Phoenix gave the ball away 23 times, played without one of its biggest names and still found enough at the end to walk out of the Galen Center with a win. The real discovery was the rookie holding the Allen key. If Brochant keeps playing with this much force, the Mercury may have found something worth keeping for a lot longer than one road trip.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Records and quotes as reported by the Associated Press and the Phoenix Mercury.