SEATTLE — Lauren Jackson scored a season high 33 points to help the Seattle Storm rally from an 18-point halftime deficit to beat the Phoenix Mercury 91-85 Tuesday night and clinch the Western Conference No. 1 seed.
Sue Bird scored 16 and Tanisha Wright 14 for Seattle (21-2), which won its 12th consecutive game. The Storm is 12-0 at home and 16-0 in conference play.
Diana Taurasi scored 27 and DeWanna Bonner 19 to lead Phoenix (10-13), which had won three in a row. The second-place Mercury dropped 11 games behind the Storm.
The Storm rallied from an 18-point halftime deficit to lead 65-64 early in the fourth quarter after Wright scored on a three-point play.
The Mercury briefly regained the lead before 3-pointers by Wright and Jackson helped give the Storm a 77-68 lead with 5:18 to go and cap a 33-7 run from midway through the third quarter.
Taurasi scored 16, Bonner 12 and Temeka Johnson 11 to help the Mercury to a 56-38 halftime lead.
Houston opened the 1998 season with a 25-2 record.
Jackson had nine points and Wright six in the third quarter as the Storm cut an 18-point deficit to 64-62.
Seattle used an 18-3 run over the final 6:49 of the third quarter to get back in the game. The Storm shot eight of 12 from the field. The Mercury shot two of 22.
Taurasi scored 11 in the first quarter to help give the Mercury a 25-20 lead. Bonner had 10 in the second quarter to boost the lead to as many as 18 points.
Phoenix shot 23 of 38 (60.5 percent) in the first half. The Storm shot 14 of 38 (36.8 percent).
Seattle’s last loss was 72-65 at Indiana June 17. The Storm also lost 84-75 at Chicago May 27.
The Storm also won the three previous games this season against Phoenix, including 111-107 in triple overtime two weeks ago and 97-74 in Seattle June 6.
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