WNBA Finals | Phoenix beats Indiana in decisive Game 5

PHOENIX — The core of the dynamic Phoenix Mercury is a trio as talented as any in the game.

No wonder they win WNBA championships.

Diana Taurasi, Cappie Pondexter and Penny Taylor — who led the team to its 2007 title — did it again in 2009, when the Mercury held off a late rally by the tenacious Indiana Fever for a 94-86 victory in the deciding Game 5 Friday night.

League and Finals most valuable player Taurasi scored 26 points, Pondexter had 24 and Taylor made two crucial free throws with 37.7 seconds left for the Mercury, which won the last two games to take the intense series 3-2.

"This is what we do, we make big plays," said Taurasi, holding a towel over her head in the champagne-drenched locker room. "We have people that step up and love to live the moment. It's a great team, great team."

When it was over, the three hugged in elation, and Taylor — an Australian who joined the team Aug. 1 after reconstructive ankle surgery — broke down in tears.

"I was only here from half the season but it was a long half and it's been a hard half," she said. "Just the buildup of that emotion of wanting to do so well, and wanting to do well for your teammates, wanting to win every game and it's just a release right now that we have been able to do it,"

Tammy Sutton-Brown scored 22 points, and Jessica Davenport had a career-high 18 for Indiana in its First finals appearance. Tamika Catchings added 16 points and nine rebounds for the Fever.

"I thought we played about as well as we could play," said Fever coach Lin Dunn, a former Storm coach.

"I thought there were a couple of times that we missed some shots that maybe could have helped us win a championship, but they didn't fall."

Sutton-Brown pointed to a home loss in Game 4.

"We had an opportunity to close it out at home, and we let that one slip away," she said, "but I think we came out and fought hard tonight. Phoenix is a great team. I think it was a great series. It was great for the WNBA."

Attendance was 17,313. NBA Phoenix Suns captains Amare Stoudemire, Steve Nash and Grant Hill purchased the tickets in the upper bowl of US Airways Center and gave them away.

Indiana rallied from 10 down in the second half to tie the score at 80 on Sutton-Brown's layup with 4:29 to play, then Tangela Smith made two three-pointers, her lone field goals of the night, to put the Mercury ahead for good.

Her second, after Davenport scored for Indiana, gave Phoenix an 86-82 lead with 3:34 to go.

Taylor scored 14 points and DeWanna Bonner added 13 for Phoenix.

Indiana's Katie Douglas scored 13 points on 4-for-14 shooting.