Mercury top Storm, set mark

SEATTLE – Brittney Griner isn’t surprised by the Phoenix Mercury’s success this season. Not even her team’s record-setting 29 wins.

Griner had 18 points and 10 rebounds as the Mercury beat the Seattle Storm 78-65 in the regular-season final Sunday night, setting a new WNBA mark for victories.

“Throughout the year, I could see it,” Griner said. “We just kept playing hard. We hate losing, and we just kept going every day. … We grew and got better as the season progressed, so I definitely saw more wins coming our way.”

Candice Dupree added 16 points to help Phoenix (29-5) top the previous record shared by Los Angeles (28-4 in both 2000 and 2001) and Seattle (28-6 in 2010).

Crystal Langhorne scored 16 points to lead Seattle (12-22), which will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2003, and the first time during coach Brian Agler’s seven-year tenure with the Storm.

“It’s sort of uncharted territory for us,” Agler said. “We don’t like being here, so we have to come back hungrier next year, so at this time a year from now, we’re finding a way to get ourselves in the playoffs.”