PHOENIX — Storm coach Anne Donovan can literally look down at every referee in the WNBA.

And now she's not thinking too kindly about a few of them either.

The referees failed to give her team many breaks during a 73-61 loss to the Phoenix Mercury last night before a crowd of 6,919 at America West Arena.

Seattle (8-9) shot two free throws, coming with 2:29 left in the game. Phoenix (5-11) went to the line 25 times, making 19.

"It's horrendous, it's horrendous, there's no question," Donovan said.

"They had two fouls in the first half. They gave us chippy fouls at the end of that game. It's horrendous."

The operative word seemed to be horrendous, but the Storm, the defending WNBA champions, shot only 27 of 72 from the floor, and 12 of its shots were blocked.

The Storm's 32-29 halftime lead quickly vanished as the Mercury went on a 28-8 run, spearheaded by Penny Taylor.

Now with her team a game under the .500 mark at midseason, Donovan was troubled by her team's second-half performance.

"They [Mercury] hit a couple of shots," she said. "We didn't do anything defensively to change what they like to do. We didn't take them out of their comfort zone at all, and they picked up their confidence. We just never got into a groove offensively."

Betty Lennox led Seattle with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Sue Bird had 16 points with five assists, and the 6-foot-5 Lauren Jackson had 15 points and nine rebounds, but was bothered at times by the inside presence of the Mercury's 6-8 Maria Stepanova, who had 10 rebounds and three blocked shots.

Taylor, a teammate of Jackson's on the Australian Olympic team, paced Phoenix with 17 points and five assists. Anna DeForge had 15 points and seven assists, and Diana Taurasi had 15 points and six assists.

"We just didn't play defensively," said Lennox, after her team lost for the fifth time in the last six games. "Even when we win, we don't play aggressive defense. We've gotten away from the concept of winning the tough games.

"It's going to be real hard to come back. We've got some games left and we still have an opportunity, but we've got to keep in the back of our minds that no matter how many games we have left, we're not going to win if we don't play defense."

Mercury coach Carrie Graf said this is "the victory we have been waiting for. Defensively, we really shook it up, and that allowed us to run. I think the energy we have been showing on the defensive end and on the boards has really changed who we are."

Said Taylor: "We just played with more intensity in the second half. It also appeared that our chemistry was great."

The Mercury defenders did a quality job on Janell Burse, holding her scoreless. She entered the game averaging 9.9 points and scored a season-high 21 against Phoenix on June 2, the last time Seattle won a Western Conference road game.

Burse, too, talked about the free-throw difference but didn't use that as an excuse.

"That's what you've got to play through," she said. "Every night is not going to be our night with the refs. We have to play through calls and not think about it. Once you think about it, you end up getting more messed up than you already are."

Donovan said her team has to get back to basics, playing tougher defense and rebounding better.

"Our identity has to change," she said. "That's a mental thing as much as a physical thing."