Liberty gun for sweep of Mercury

The New York Liberty will be going for a season sweep of the Phoenix Mercury on Sunday.

The Liberty won 69-67 in Phoenix on March 23, when star guard Diana Taurasi was sitting out for the Mercury because of a one-game suspension because of a flagrant foul.

New York had an easier time in an 88-72 home victory on June 4.

The teams' final meeting of the season will be in Phoenix.

The Mercury (9-6) have won two games in a row, while the Liberty (8-7) snapped a three-game losing streak with a 79-70 victory at the Seattle Storm on Thursday.

The marquee matchup once again will be down low.

Phoenix center Brittney Griner is averaging a WNBA-high 21.9 points and a league-best 2.5 blocked shots. New York forward Tina Charles is third in scoring at 20.3 and fourth in rebounding at 9.1 per game.

Charles is coming off a 29-point performance against Seattle, when she posted her seventh double-double of the season and became the franchise's career rebounding leader.

The eighth-year pro has career averages of 18.0 points and 10.1 rebounds. She led the league in scoring and rebounding last season.

"Tina Charles is Tina Charles," Liberty coach Bill Laimbeer said. "Former MVP. Perennial All-Star. Twenty and 10 every year, like clockwork. There is no better consistent player in the league than Tina Charles."

Griner has 45 points and 14 rebounds in two games against New York this season. Charles has 38 and 17.

Taurasi, the WNBA's career scoring leader, is averaging 18.0 points.

The Mercury has a deeper bench than in previous meetings against New York, having recently traded with San Antonio for wing Monique Currie and signing post player Angel Robinson. They have been with Phoenix for the last three games.

Currie scored 12 points off the bench in a 92-77 road victory over San Antonio on Friday. She also played with the Mercury during the 2015 season.

"We know what she is capable of," Phoenix coach Sandy Brondello said in the San Antonio Express-News. "It gives us another scorer off the bench and another spark."

Phoenix could use that against New York, which leads the WNBA by allowing opponents to shoot only 40.3 percent from the field. The Mercury shot 34.4 percent in the first meeting and 34.8 percent in the second game.

"We have been playing solid defense all along here," Laimbeer said. "Overall, our defense has been getting better every day and the shooting percentage of the other team is starting to go backward."

Phoenix will honor former Mercury player Penny Taylor throughout the game and retire her jersey afterward. Taylor and Taurasi are the only two to play on all three Mercury championship teams.

Taylor played 10 seasons in Phoenix and retired as the franchise's second-leading scorer behind Taurasi.