Storm 87, Mercury 83 | Seattle starts cold, ends hot

PHOENIX — Inside a rowdy locker room after the Storm rallied from yet another halftime deficit to defeat Phoenix, 87-83, Swin Cash implored her WNBA teammates to end the madness.

"Can we please just be up [at halftime] against San Antonio?" Cash begged the Storm, referring to Saturday's opponent.

Cash said later that she was happy to get the win.

"But it is very stressful to be playing from behind even though you know you can do it. We would like to just be comfortable, have a little pad and be able to make a mistake. You get down by so many, it's hard to make mistakes because that one mistake could cost you the game."

Seattle was error-filled for the third consecutive opening half of basketball Thursday. But the Storm outscored the Mercury 50-31 in the second half behind forward Lauren Jackson's 21 points and six rebounds to give Seattle its first 3-0 start in the franchise's nine-year history.

During the first stretch of games, the Storm has outscored its opponents 138-85 after halftime.

"I don't think it's anything to worry about because we're still able to put up those kinds of numbers in the second half," said Jackson, who had a breakout game of 30 points and nine boards with three assists and three steals. "We've got so many scorers and obviously I attract a lot of attention, but there's so many options for us to get offense. There's no need to be greedy now."

Storm coach Brian Agler told his team to work to be within six points at the end of the third quarter, then it would just be a normal ballgame to play out the final 10 minutes. The Storm did, using a 22-11 run immediately after the break to trail 68-62 heading into the final quarter.

Seattle was within 79-76 following four free throws by Jackson with 2:59 remaining in the game. Later, a 12-foot jump shot by Sue Bird, who was flanked by Phoenix defenders, gave the team an 82-81 lead.

Bench players Tanisha Wright and Shyra Ely played impressive defense to help force the Mercury into 37.5 percent shooting in the quarter.

Wright in particular helped Cappie Pondexter, the Finals MVP, commit four turnovers and miss four of her five shot attempts.

"We ran out of juice," first-year Mercury coach Corey Gaines said. "Shots don't fall when you get tired and we just couldn't push it. It became a half-court game and they're better in a half-court game than we are."

Jackson said there was a tinge of revenge included in this matchup.

"They broke our hearts last year," Jackson said of the Mercury, which ousted Seattle from the playoffs. "This was a heartbreaker for them."

The Storm committed eight turnovers and was outscored 20-2 in the second quarter. Seattle cleaned up its play to have zero turnovers and score 10 points off nine Mercury turnovers in the second half.

The Mercury fell to 0-3.

"Apparently we like to make it interesting and come back on teams," said Bird, who finished with 13 points. "This was a tough one because they're a very good team offensively and we let them do whatever they wanted. In the second half we made some easier looks for ourselves and from there we just tried to get some stops. It shows the poise we have on this team."

Seattle shot 29 percent in the opening half of both of its home wins against Chicago and Sacramento. The Storm used a 23-1 second-half run to come back against the Sky and a 22-6 run in the fourth quarter to defeat the Monarchs. Seattle outscored the Mercury 22-11 to open the third quarter.

Jayda Evans: 206-464-2067