2011 Phoenix Mercury season

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.
• August 12: The Mercury signed Krystal Thomas and waived Olayinka Sanni.

Trades

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

Personnel changes

Additions

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

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. # Nat. Name Height Weight DOB From Yrs G/F 24 Bonner, DeWanna 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 137 lb (62 kg) 08-21-1987 Auburn F 4 Dupree, Candice 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 08-16-1984 Temple G 9 Ferdinand-Harris, Marie 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) 162 lb (73 kg) 10-13-1978 LSU G 21 Gray-Lawson, Alexis 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) 176 lb (80 kg) 04-21-1987 California G 2 Johnson, Temeka 5 ft 3 in (1.60 m) 142 lb (64 kg) 09-06-1982 LSU F/C 43 Sanford, Nakia 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 05-10-1976 Kansas G/F 6 Spencer, Sidney 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 183 lb (83 kg) 03-07-1985 Tennessee G 11 Swanier, Ketia 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) 150 lb (68 kg) 08-10-1986 Connecticut G 3 Taurasi, Diana 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 163 lb (74 kg) 06-11-1982 Connecticut F 13 Taylor, Penny 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 165 lb (75 kg) 05-24-1981 Australia F/C 32 Thomas, Krystal 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 06-10-1989 Duke	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

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

Postseason

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
DeWanna Bonner
Candice Dupree
Marie Ferdinand-Harris
Alexis Gray-Lawson
Temeka Johnson
Nakia Sanford
Sidney Spencer
Ketia Swanier
Diana Taurasi
Penny Taylor
Krystal Thomas

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.