Mercury’s Brittney Griner, Kahleah Copper prove too much for Storm in 87-78 loss

Two weeks ago, the Storm and center Ezi Magbegor dominated a short-handed Phoenix Mercury team that was missing perennial WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner who sat out the first 10 games of the season due to a foot injury.

On Sunday afternoon, the Magbegor-Griner matchup took center stage at Footprint Center in a battle of two of the league’s top post players.

After Seattle cut its 21-point deficit to six in the final four minutes, Griner and Kahleah Copper drained clutch baskets that led Phoenix to an 87-78 win in the rematch against the Storm.

Copper scored a game-high 30 points while Griner had 28 points, nine rebounds and two blocks.

The Mercury stars outscored the Storm’s Big Four: Nneka Ogwumike (15 points and 11 rebounds), Jewell Loyd (14 points), Skylar Diggins-Smith (14 points, eight rebounds and six assists) and Magbegor (14 points).

Jordan Horston added 12 points and five steals for Seattle, which fell to 9-5.

The Storm never got going Sunday and fell behind 23-11 late in the first quarter after Diana Taurasi drained a three-pointer.

Then Copper pushed Seattle into a 40-23 hole following another 3-pointer in the second period.

It was a miserable first-half shooting performance for the Storm who converted 29.3% of their field goals, including two of 13 three-pointers.

Phoenix built its advantage to 66-45 late in the third quarter, when Seattle seized momentum.

Diggins-Smith canned a three-pointer midway in the fourth quarter that capped a 24-9 run and trimmed the Mercury’s lead to 75-69.

Then Griner converted a three-point play and Copper scored seven straight points for Phoenix, which led 85-71 with 1:24 left.

Taurasi, who won her 300th game, added 13 points for the Mercury, which improved to 7-7.

Seattle wraps up its three-game road trip on Wednesday against the Las Vegas Aces.