Seattle can't keep up with fiery Diana Taurasi

PHOENIX — The Storm had a chance to sit pretty as the team flies home today from the longest road trip of the season.

San Antonio (17-9) and Los Angeles (14-12) lost before Seattle took the floor against Phoenix, and a win Friday night would have placed the Storm atop the Western Conference.

But then Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi happened.

Without the double duty of having to score and hound two-time MVP Lauren Jackson, Taurasi displayed her array of entertaining shots to help her Mercury win 94-80 at US Airways Center.

Taurasi, whose defending championship team is at the bottom of the conference (12-14), finished with 31 points on 9-for-17 shooting. She also led all players with nine rebounds. It's the seventh time this season and 18th time in her career that she's scored 30 points or more.

"My goal was to set the tone from the beginning," said Taurasi, whose team ended a two-game slide. "We've had some lousy starts, which set the tone for [those] games. I thought it was good everyone came out aggressive tonight and played well."

The Storm (16-9) trailed by as many as 20 points in the opening half. Center Yolanda Griffith, who returned from a concussion that caused her to miss Tuesday's win in Minnesota, scored 12 of her season-high 17 points in the third quarter to get Seattle back in the game.

Griffith's pass to reserve Shyra Ely with 5:12 remaining in the third tied the game at 54. But Phoenix coach Corey Gaines wasn't concerned about Griffith sustaining Seattle, which was on a 21-7 run.

"She can't do that for a long time," Gaines said. "She's a great player, but she's old. You've got to be realistic. In her younger days she would probably be a beast."

Instead, Gaines called a timeout with 4:54 remaining in the third and told his players to "Wake up!" The demand had the reverse effect on the Storm, as it slipped into another lapse and the Mercury went on an 18-7 run to take a 72-61 lead into the final quarter.

Seattle didn't recover, falling behind by as many as 18 points in the closing quarter.

"If you're going to fight to get back in the game, you have to fight all the way," said Griffith, who also had seven rebounds and three assists. "Things just went their way — a lot of loose balls and open jumpers. But we have to put this behind us and get ready for Sunday."

Phoenix and Seattle played without Penny Taylor and Jackson, respectively. Taylor missed the entire opening half of the season to train with the Australia national team, while Jackson departed July 17 to train with the Aussies.

The Storm was 1-6 with Jackson in the lineup on the road this season, so returning 2-2 today is a positive.

Seattle hosts Sacramento (15-11) on Sunday for its final game before the league-mandated Olympic break. The third-place Monarchs are on a six-game win streak, the hottest in the WNBA.

"We didn't do a bad job" on this trip, said Ely, who finished with a season-high 10 points and only one rebound. "Two-and-two is not bad without our best player, and we didn't have Yo in Minnesota and Sheryl [Swoopes] for half a game in Minnesota and tonight. We're doing better than a lot of people expected us to do.

"We lost, but we did do some good things and we showed people we can win without Lauren. Of course we want her back, but our main focus is to finish this last game strong and not check out for the break early."

Jayda Evans: 206-464-2067 or jevans@seattletimes.com