PHOENIX — Candice Dupree had 20 points, five rebounds and three assists to lead the Phoenix Mercury to a 78-65 win over the Washington Mystics on Friday night.
Diana Taurasi, the WNBA’s second-leading scorer, was limited to 13 points and added five assists for the Mercury, who won their sixth straight and 10th in the last 11 games.
Crystal Langhorne had 17 points and eight rebounds for the Mystics, who have lost five straight and nine of 10. Matee Ajavon added 14 points for Washington.
Washington made six of its first seven shots in the second half to pull to 49-45 with 4:29 left after trailing the entire opening half. But Phoenix outscored the Mystics 15-4 over the next 4 minutes to pull away.
Kara Braxton had 17 points, and Penny Taylor added eight points, eight rebounds, seven assists and five steals for Phoenix, which leads the Western Conference by a game over San Antonio.
Dupree scored 12 points to help Phoenix to a 36-27 lead at the break after the teams combined to shoot 37 percent.
The last-place Mystics (2-10) shot just 23 of 66 (35 percent) from the field.
Langhorne scored 11 of the Mystics’ 12 first-quarter points but was held to 3-of-10 shooting from the field the rest of the night.
Taurasi hit a free throw with 3:45 left in the third quarter to become the fastest WNBA player to reach 5,000 points. She did it in her 243rd game, 16 faster than Lauren Jackson of Seattle. She is the fifth player to reach that mark and was named to her fifth All-Star game Thursday.
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