Slow start dooms Mercury vs. Atlanta Dream

The Phoenix Mercury weren’t able to recover from a rough start against the Atlanta Dream and lost 72-63 in Atlanta on Wednesday in the first of two road games.

The Mercury (15-14) had their worst first quarter this season with six points on 2-of-13 shooting; the Dream took advantage with 19 points.

Kahleah Copper led all scorers with 22 points on 8-of-17 shooting while adding six rebounds. Brittney Griner posted 14 points and eight rebounds.

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Dream center Tina Charles moved into second place behind Diana Taurasi on the WNBA's all-time scoring list during the fourth quarter. She passed Hall of Famer Tina Thompson.

Charles passed Thompson with a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter for her 12th point of the game. That gave the Dream a 51-48 lead. Charles finished with a double-double with 12 points and 17 rebounds.

Allisha Gray led the Dream with 21 points, while Rhyne Howard had 19 points.

Monique Billings started a comeback that erased the 13-point deficit from the first quarter with a 15-1 run to begin the second quarter and tied the game at 21.

The Mercury and Dream traded baskets after the Mercury tied the game until Gray made the Mercury pay with two 3-pointers during a 10-1 run. The Mercury struggled from 3 and were 0-for-7, which helped the Dream lead 34-26 at halftime.

It was tied to start the fourth quarter, but the Dream went on a 9-0 run. The Mercury only scored 15 points to close the game.

The Mercury shot 10-for-31 (32.3%) in the first half, but fared better in the second half, going 14-for-30 (46.7%). The Mercury eventually got going from the 3 and made six 3s on 12 attempts.

The teams will face each other again on Friday in Atlanta at 4:30 p.m. on ION.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix Mercury can't recover from slow start in loss to Atlanta Dream