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2011 Phoenix Mercury season
Coach	Corey Gaines
Arena	US Airways Center
Attendance	9,167 per game
Results
Record	19–15 (.559)
Place	3rd (Western)
Playoff finish	Lost in Conference Finals
Team Leaders
Points	Taurasi (21.6)
Rebounds	Dupree (8.2)
Assists	Taylor (4.7)
Media
Television	FS-A ESPN2, NBATV
← 2010 season 2012 season →

The 2011 WNBA season was the 15th season for the Phoenix Mercury of the Women's National Basketball Association.

Transactions

WNBA draft

The following are the Mercury's selections in the 2011 WNBA draft.

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/team/country
2	19	Brittany Spears	United States	Colorado
3	31	Tahnee Robinson	United States	Nevada

Transaction log

February 9: The Mercury signed Brooke Smith, Sequoia Holmes, and Taylor Lilley to training camp contracts.
February 22: The Mercury signed Lauren Ervin to a training camp contract.
February 24: The Mercury signed Marie Ferdinand-Harris and Nakia Sanford.
February 25: The Mercury signed Alexis Gray-Lawson and Amanda Thompson.
March 14: The Mercury waived Sequoia Holmes and Brooke Smith.
April 10: The Mercury signed Erlana Larkins to a training camp contract.
April 11: The Mercury traded draft rights to Tahnee Robinson to the Connecticut Sun in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2012 draft.
April 15: The Mercury waived Amanda Thompson.
April 22: The Mercury signed Yuko Oga and Olayinka Sanni to training camp contracts.
April 28: The Mercury waived Lauren Ervin.
May 19: The Mercury waived Erlana Larkins.
May 30: The Mercury waived Taylor Lilley and Brittany Spears.
June 2: The Mercury waived Yuko Oga.
August 4: The Mercury traded Kara Braxton to the New York Liberty in exchange for Sidney Spencer.^[1]
August 12: The Mercury signed Krystal Thomas and waived Olayinka Sanni.

Trades

Date	Trade
April 11, 2011	To Phoenix Mercury	To Connecticut Sun
April 11, 2011	third-round pick in 2012 draft	Tahnee Robinson
August 4, 2011	To Phoenix Mercury	To New York Liberty
August 4, 2011	Sidney Spencer	Kara Braxton

Personnel changes

Additions[edit]

Player	Signed	Former team
Marie Ferdinand-Harris	February 24, 2011	Los Angeles Sparks
Nakia Sanford	February 24, 2011	Washington Mystics
Alexis Gray-Lawson	February 25, 2011	free agent
Olayinka Sanni	April 20, 2011	free agent
Sidney Spencer	August 4, 2011	New York Liberty
Krystal Thomas	August 12, 2011	free agent

Subtractions[edit]

Player	Left	New team
Tangela Smith	February 2, 2011	Indiana Fever
Sequoia Holmes	March 14, 2011	free agent
Brooke Smith	March 14, 2011	free agent
Taylor Lilley	May 30, 2011	free agent
Kara Braxton	August 4, 2011	New York Liberty
Olayinka Sanni	August 12, 2011	free agent

Roster

2011 Phoenix Mercury roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	DOB	From	Yrs
G/F	24	Bonner, DeWanna	6' 4" (1.93m)	137 lb (62kg)	08-21-1987	Auburn	2
F	4	Dupree, Candice	6' 2" (1.88m)	175 lb (79kg)	08-16-1984	Temple	5
G	9	Ferdinand-Harris, Marie	5' 9" (1.75m)	162 lb (73kg)	10-13-1978	LSU	9
G	21	Gray-Lawson, Alexis	5' 8" (1.73m)	176 lb (80kg)	04-21-1987	California	R
G	2	Johnson, Temeka	5' 3" (1.6m)	142 lb (64kg)	09-06-1982	LSU	6
F/C	43	Sanford, Nakia	6' 4" (1.93m)	195 lb (88kg)	05-10-1976	Kansas	8
G/F	6	Spencer, Sidney	6' 3" (1.91m)	183 lb (83kg)	03-07-1985	Tennessee	4
G	11	Swanier, Ketia	5' 7" (1.7m)	150 lb (68kg)	08-10-1986	Connecticut	3
G	3	Taurasi, Diana	6' 0" (1.83m)	163 lb (74kg)	06-11-1982	Connecticut	7
F	13	Taylor, Penny	6' 1" (1.85m)	165 lb (75kg)	05-24-1981	Australia	9
F/C	32	Thomas, Krystal	6' 5" (1.96m)	195 lb (88kg)	06-10-1989	Duke	R

Head coach: Corey Gaines (Loyola Marymount)
Assistant coaches: Julie Hairgrove (Arizona)
Bridget Pettis (Florida)

Athletic trainer: Tamara Poole (Cal State-DH)

Strength and conditioning coach: Ben Hadley (Arizona State)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(FA) Free agent
(IN) Inactive
(S) Suspended
Injured

Depth

Pos.	Starter	Bench
C	Nakia Sanford	Krystal Thomas
PF	Candice Dupree	DeWanna Bonner
SF	Penny Taylor	Marie Ferdinand-Harris Sidney Spencer
SG	Diana Taurasi	Alexis Gray-Lawson
PG	Temeka Johnson	Ketia Swanier

Season standings

Western Conference	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
Minnesota Lynx ^x	27	7	.794	–	14–3	13–4	18–4
Seattle Storm ^x	21	13	.618	6.0	15–2	6–11	15–7
Phoenix Mercury ^x	19	15	.559	8.0	11–6	8–9	11–11
San Antonio Silver Stars ^x	18	16	.529	9.0	9–8	9–8	11–11
Los Angeles Sparks ^o	15	19	.441	12.0	10–7	5–12	10–12
Tulsa Shock ^o	3	31	.088	24.0	2–15	1–16	1–21

Schedule

Preseason

2011 Game Log: Preseason

Game	Date	Time (ET)	Opponent	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location/Attendance	Record
1	May 24	10:00pm	Japan	96–52	Gray-Lawson (16)	Dupree (8)	Gray Lawson (6)	US Airways Center 2,969	1–0
2	May 28	10:00pm	@ Los Angeles	72–83	3 players (12)	Braxton (6)	5 players (2)	The Pit N/A	1–1

Regular season

2011 Game Log: Regular Season

June

Game	Date	Time (ET)	Opponent	TV	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location/Attendance	Record
1	June 4	3:00pm	@ Seattle	ABC	71–78	Taurasi (31)	Dupree Braxton (9)	Taylor (5)	KeyArena 11,548	0–1
2	June 10	10:30pm	@ Los Angeles		85–98	Taylor (18)	Dupree (11)	Johnson (6)	Staples Center 10,616	0–2
3	June 17	10:00pm	San Antonio	FS-A	99–101	Taurasi (20)	Dupree (12)	Taylor (10)	US Airways Center 12,274	0–3
4	June 19	6:00pm	Indiana		93–89 (OT)	Taurasi (32)	Dupree (18)	Taylor (6)	US Airways Center 7,701	1–3
5	June 21	8:00pm	@ San Antonio	ESPN2	105–98	Taylor (30)	Dupree (13)	Johnson (6)	AT&T Center 7,072	2–3
6	June 24	7:30pm	@ Atlanta	FS-A FS-S	92–83	Taurasi (20)	Taylor (10)	Taylor (8)	Philips Arena 5,492	3–3
7	June 25	8:00pm	@ Chicago	CN100	86–78	Tauarsi (23)	Braxton Taylor (9)	Taylor (7)	Allstate Arena 5,547	4–3
8	June 28	7:00pm	@ Indiana		86–91	Bonner Taurasi (15)	Braxton (7)	Gray-Lawson Taylor (5)	Conseco Fieldhouse 6,625	4–4

July

Game	Date	Time (ET)	Opponent	TV	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location/Attendance	Record
9	July 1	10:00pm	Chicago	NBATV CN100	97–84	Taurasi (24)	Dupree (9)	Taurasi (6)	US Airways Center 9,517	5–4
10	July 5	9:00pm	Los Angeles	ESPN2	101–82	Dupree Taurasi (20)	Braxton (5)	Taurasi (7)	US Airways Center 9,826	6–4
11	July 8	8:00pm	@ Tulsa		86–78	Taurasi (17)	Bonner (13)	Taylor (7)	BOK Center 4,081	7–4
12	July 10	6:00pm	Tulsa	NBATV COX	102–63	Taylor (18)	Sanford (7)	Taurasi (6)	US Airways Center 7,696	8–4
13	July 13	1:00pm	@ Minnesota	NBATV FS-A FS-N	112–105	Taurasi (27)	Dupree Taylor (8)	Johnson Taurasi Taylor (8)	Target Center 11,820	9–4
14	July 15	10:00pm	Washington	NBATV FS-A	78–64	Dupree (20)	Taylor (8)	Taylor (7)	US Airways Center 9,075	10–4
15	July 20	3:30pm	Minnesota	NBATV FS-A	98–106	Taurasi (24)	Bonner Dupree (7)	Taurasi (6)	US Airways Center 12,118	10–5
All-Star break
16	July 26	9:00pm	Seattle	NBATV	77–83	Taurasi (26)	Bonner Braxton (7)	Johnson (5)	US Airways Center 6,108	10–6
17	July 28	12:30pm	@ San Antonio	NBATV FS-A FS-SW	91–102	Taurasi (27)	Dupree (14)	Johnson Taylor (5)	AT&T Center 14,797	10–7
18	July 30	7:00pm	@ New York	NBATV MSG+	91–84	Taylor (29)	Bonner (9)	Swanier (7)	Prudential Center 7,214	11–7

August

Game	Date	Time (ET)	Opponent	TV	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location/Attendance	Record
19	August 2	8:00pm	@ Minnesota	ESPN2	73–90	Taurasi (20)	Bonner (8)	Johnson (4)	Target Center 7,126	11–8
20	August 7	6:00pm	Connecticut	NBATV FS-A	95–96 (OT)	Taurasi (29)	Dupree (12)	Taurasi (6)	US Airways Center 8,514	11–9
21	August 9	10:00pm	Minnesota		85–80	Taurasi (26)	Dupree (11)	Johnson (5)	US Airways Center 6,726	12–9
22	August 11	10:00pm	Atlanta		109–95	Bonner (25)	Bonner (13)	Taylor (6)	US Airways Center 7,940	13–9
23	August 12	10:30pm	@ Los Angeles		90–93 (OT)	Taylor (29)	Bonner (10)	Johnson (12)	Staples Center 10,512	13–10
24	August 16	10:00pm	Seattle		81–79	Taurasi (24)	Bonner Sanford Taurasi (5)	Johnson Taurasi (4)	US Airways Center 8,870	14–10
25	August 20	10:00pm	San Antonio	NBATV FS-A FS-SW	87–81	Taylor (28)	Bonner (11)	Taylor (5)	US Airways Center 10,134	15–10
26	August 23	10:00pm	New York	ESPN2	70–74	Dupree (17)	Taylor (9)	Johnson Taylor (4)	US Airways Center 8,871	15–11
27	August 26	7:30pm	@ Connecticut	CSN-NE	92–95	Taurasi Taylor (26)	Dupree Sanford (11)	Johnson (7)	Mohegan Sun Arena 9,007	15–12
28	August 28	4:00pm	@ Washington	NBATV CSN-MA	86–79	Dupree (27)	Sanford (9)	Johnson (8)	Verizon Center 11,614	16–12
29	August 30	8:00pm	@ Tulsa		96–74	Bonner (25)	Bonner Sanford (9)	Bonner Taurasi (3)	BOK Center 3,590	17–12

September

Game	Date	Time (ET)	Opponent	TV	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location/Attendance	Record
30	September 1	8:00pm	@ San Antonio		68–86	Bonner (23)	Dupree (13)	Swanier Taurasi (3)	AT&T Center 6,502	17–13
31	September 3	10:00pm	Los Angeles	NBATV	93–77	Taurasi (24)	Dupree (19)	Johnson (9)	US Airways Center 9,620	18–13
32	September 8	10:00pm	Tulsa	NBATV COX	91–76	Taurasi (21)	Bonner (10)	Swanier (9)	US Airways Center 8,189	19–13
33	September 9	10:00pm	@ Seattle	KONG	70–85	Taurasi (36)	Bonner (14)	Johnson (3)	KeyArena 9,686	19–14
34	September 11	6:00pm	Minnesota	FS-A	90–96	Taurasi (19)	Dupree (6)	Swanier (4)	US Airways Center 12,666	19–15

All games are viewable on WNBA LiveAccess or ESPN3.com

Postseason

2011 Game Log: Postseason

Western Conference Semifinals

Game	Date	Time (ET)	Opponent	TV	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location/Attendance	Series
1	September 15	10:00pm	@ Seattle	ESPN2	61–80	Taylor (13)	Bonner (8)	Johnson Swanier Taylor (3)	KeyArena 7,279	0–1
2	September 17	10:00pm	Seattle	NBATV	92–83	Dupree (29)	Dupree (13)	Johnson (9)	US Airways Center 9,356	1–1
3	September 19	10:00pm	@ Seattle	ESPN2	77–75	Dupree (20)	Taylor (17)	Johnson Taurasi (3)	KeyArena 8,589	2–1

Western Conference Finals

Game	Date	Time (ET)	Opponent	TV	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location/Attendance	Series
1	September 22	9:00pm	@ Minnesota	ESPN2	67–95	Taurasi (22)	Bonner (8)	Johnson (4)	Target Center 8,912	0–1
2	September 25	5:00pm	Minnesota	ESPN2	86–103	Bonner Taurasi (22)	Dupree (11)	Johnson (6)	US Airways Center 8,617	0–2

Statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game	RPG	Rebounds per game
APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game	BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage	TO	Turnovers per game
PF	Fouls per game		Team leader		League leader

Regular season

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
DeWanna Bonner	34	5	25.2	.430	.343	.909	7.0	0.8	1.00	1.06	10.7
Kara Braxton	18	18	19.8	.559	.500	.595	4.9	1.3	0.80	0.80	10.6
Candice Dupree	34	34	31.6	.548	.167	.852	8.2	1.8	0.56	0.74	14.6
Marie Ferdinand-Harris	34	2	17.4	.335	.333	.974	1.5	1.1	0.56	0.21	6.8
Alexis Gray-Lawson	27	0	11.4	.398	.349	.821	0.7	1.3	0.22	0.00	3.9
Temeka Johnson	30	30	23.9	.435	.385	.864	2.0	4.4	0.80	0.17	6.4
Nakia Sanford	33	16	14.4	.484	.000	.750	4.2	0.4	0.21	0.21	4.2
Olayinka Sanni	14	0	5.2	.667	.000	.333	0.7	0.0	0.21	0.07	1.6
Sidney Spencer	8	0	8.1	.313	.750	1.000	0.6	0.8	0.00	0.00	1.9
Ketia Swanier	29	4	14.8	.342	.286	.688	1.9	2.3	0.79	0.03	2.7
Diana Taurasi	32	32	30.2	.449	.395	.903	3.2	3.6	0.75	0.63	21.6
Penny Taylor	29	29	29.8	.511	.402	.874	4.9	4.7	1.69	0.38	16.7
Krystal Thomas	8	0	12.3	.563	.000	.500	1.0	0.1	0.00	0.63	2.6

Awards and honors

Candice Dupree was named WNBA Western Conference Player of the Week for the week of June 13, 2011.
Penny Taylor was named WNBA Western Conference Player of the Week for the week of June 20, 2011.
Diana Taurasi was named WNBA Western Conference Player of the Week for the week of August 8, 2011.
DeWanna Bonner was named WNBA Western Conference Player of the Week for the week of August 29, 2011.
Diana Taurasi was named to the 2011 WNBA All-Star Team as a starter.
Penny Taylor was named to the 2011 WNBA All-Star Team as a reserve.
Diana Taurasi finished as a Peak Performer, averaging 21.6 points per game.
DeWanna Bonner was named Sixth Woman of the Year.
Diana Taurasi was named to the All-WNBA First Team.
Penny Taylor was named to the All-WNBA Second Team.

References

External links

Phoenix Mercury

Phoenix Mercury
Founded in 1997 Based in Phoenix, Arizona
Franchise	Franchise Current season
Arenas	Footprint Center
Head Coaches	Cheryl Miller Cynthia Cooper Linda Sharp John Shumate Carrie Graf Paul Westhead Corey Gaines Russ Pennell Sandy Brondello Vanessa Nygaard Nikki Blue Nate Tibbetts
Administration	Owner(s): Jerry Colangelo Robert Sarver Mat Ishbia & Justin Ishbia CEO: :Josh Bartelstein General Manager: Cheryl Miller Seth Sulka Ann Meyers-Drysdale Corey Gaines Amber Cox Jason Rowley Jim Pitman Nick U'Ren
All-Stars	DeWanna Bonner Anna DeForge Skylar Diggins-Smith Candice Dupree Brittney Griner Brandy Reed Cappie Pondexter Diana Taurasi Penny Taylor Michele Timms Adrian Williams
Seasons	1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Playoff appearances	1997 1998 2000 2007 2009 2010 2011 2013 2014 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Conference Championships	1998 2007 2009 2014 2021
WNBA Championships	2007 2009 2014
Rivals	Houston Comets Los Angeles Sparks Minnesota Lynx Seattle Storm Chicago Sky
Media	TV: Bally Sports Arizona Announcers: Kayte Christensen, Tom Leander

2011 WNBA season by team

2011 WNBA season by team
Draft Schedule All-Star Game Playoffs Finals
Eastern	Atlanta Dream Chicago Sky Connecticut Sun Indiana Fever New York Liberty Washington Mystics
Western	Los Angeles Sparks Minnesota Lynx Phoenix Mercury San Antonio Silver Stars Seattle Storm Tulsa Shock
← 2010 WNBA season 2012 →