Monique Billings shines in debut and Sophie Cunningham steps up in Phoenix Mercury victory over Chicago Sky
Monique Billings posted 13 points and eight rebounds and Sophie Cunningham had her first career double-double in Sunday's win. Cunningham had 13 points to go along with a career-high 10 rebounds.
PHOENIX — Monique Billings’ aggression on the glass and Sophie Cunningham’s first career double-double led the Phoenix Mercury to an 86-68 win over the Chicago Sky, the Mercury’s second win against the Sky in four days.
Billings made her Mercury (15-13) debut against the Sky (11-16) on Sunday after signing with Phoenix just seven hours before the game tipped.
“It’s a whirlwind,” Billings said. “I have not even practiced with this team. I am just so grateful, one, to be on a team, two, to my teammates for welcoming me and just the support staff. I feel like this has been home. I am really excited to get to work, and I am expecting good things.”
The eighth-year pro out of UCLA finished with 13 points and eight rebounds. Billings, brought in for her rebounding, was aggressive on the boards and was also able to get to the rim and score on offense.
The Mercury are second-to-last in the league in rebounding at 32.5 per game and in her first game for Phoenix, Billings showed why her addition was so vital.
“With us signing Monique Billings that’s a big reason why we were excited to get her for her energy, athletic standpoint, her rebounding ability, those are the main things defensively we think she can help us in those areas,” Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said before Sunday’s game.
Billings had five rebounds in her first eight minutes and was a much-needed spark for the Mercury off the bench after Phoenix scored just six bench points in Friday’s loss in Indiana.
Cunningham has come off the bench 17 times and started 11 games this season and while there’s debate as to whether she’s more effective coming off the bench or starting, Sunday proved she might be better as a starter.
Cunningham had her first career double-double and finished with 13 points to go along with a career-high 10 rebounds.
“If you look analytically at the numbers our NET rating has been really good when she’s started,” Tibbetts said. “(Cunningham) pretty much does whatever we ask and that’s I think why everyone loves her and also about how hard she plays.
“So there's a balance. Obviously, we've got Bec (Allen) and now Monique, we've got some pretty good players that we're going to have options to put in that starting lineup. So that's something that we're going to have to continue to talk about. It's finding a balance of who plays well together, and then also bringing a spark off the bench. I think that's why she's been so good in that role, just because she can play the two, the three, the four. But tonight and whenever she's been given the opportunity, she's stepped up.”
“I’m just trying to get out of everyone’s way and just be the dog of the team,” Cunningham said. “I’m just trying to be a gritty player, trying to have a knack for the ball and how it’s bouncing off the rim, do the dirty work and what the team needs.”
The Mercury lost the rebounding battle 44-41 largely in part because Sky forward Angel Reese had a career-high 20 rebounds. The rookie had 10 offensive rebounds and 10 defensive rebounds to go along with her 19 points.
“Obviously what Angel is doing is super impressive,” Tibbetts said. “Give her a ton of credit. She’s got a gift to go get that thing.”
Sunday marked Reese’s 20th double-double of the season and her 21st straight game with 10 or more rebounds, continuing her WNBA record.
“I thought we competed on the glass,” Tibbetts said. “If you were just to look at the stats you would say we didn’t do a very good job but that’s their strength. They’re the number-one team in the league. They challenge you in different ways. One of our goals is to hold teams to under 20 points in a quarter. We did that all four quarters, which was great. I thought we were engaged. We didn’t have many empty possessions at that end.”
Sunday was a rare poor-shooting performance from Kahleah Copper. The WNBA’s second-leading scorer was just 2-of-11 (18.2%) from the field and finished with seven points, matching her season-low.
Copper had 29 points in her return to Chicago on Thursday and her league-leading ninth game of at least 30 points on Friday when she scored 32 in Phoenix’s losing effort in Indiana. Tibbetts suggested tiredness could be the factor for Copper’s struggles on Sunday.
“Maybe some fatigue,” Tibbetts said. “And we had other players step up, and so I think that's the beauty of our team at times. And we have those capabilities. Copper has cured us at times, and we need it.
“But she's probably a little bit tired, won Olympic gold. I'm sure they celebrated for a night or two. We go to Chicago where she had played, and back to back, and then there's nights like this, and I know that she'll be better when we get to Atlanta.”
With Copper not playing to her usual ability, much of the Mercury’s offense flowed through Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi, which helped the Mercury build an early lead.
Griner finished with 18 points, five rebounds and three assists, while Taurasi had 23 points, three rebounds and five assists.
The Mercury are now 8-4 this season when four or more of their players score at least 10 points.
And Sunday marked the eighth time this season Taurasi has scored at least 20 points, surpassing her 2023 season total of seven games with at least 20 points.
Taurasi had 12 points in the first quarter, while Griner had eight and was a perfect 3-of-3 from the field. The 6-foot-9 center is second in the WNBA in field goal percentage at 56.7% on the season.
Despite the high-volume 3-point shooting team that the Mercury were over the first 10 games of the season when Griner was out with a broken toe, they have since found it to be highly effective to run their offense through Griner.
Phoenix shot just 1-of-7 (14.3%) from three in the opening period but went 13-of-13 from the foul line, which helped them build a 32-19 lead.
The Mercury finished 7-of-23 (30.4%) from deep, while the Sky went 0-of-14. It was the first time since 2016 the Sky did not make a 3-pointer.
It was also just the ninth time in WNBA history that a team has shot 0-of-14 or worse from three and the first time since June 14, 2015, when Minnesota shot 0-of-9, that the Mercury have held a team without a three.
After a season-high 30 points in the first quarter against the Sky on Thursday, the Mercury scored another season-high points in the first quarter on Sunday and carried that momentum into the second quarter.
But after the Mercury took a 52-35 lead going into the break, the Sky started the third quarter on a 12-2 run to cut Phoenix’s lead to 54-47.
“Yeah human nature I think a little bit is just to kind of relax,” Tibbetts said. “We had played pretty well against them a couple nights ago, but (Sky) coach (Teresa) Weatherspoon does a good job. I mean, they've been competitive. They play hard. They're trying to build something special, and they do it with their effort and toughness. And that's what they came out and did in that third quarter. I didn't think we were ready from the start, I called a time-out. And, you know, they kind of got together and figured it out. That’s what good teams do.”
Several players got into foul trouble in the third quarter, including Kamilla Cardoso and Chennedy Carter, who both picked up their fourth foul. Cardoso heading to the bench allowed the Mercury to end the quarter on an 11-0 run (with nine of the points coming after Cardoso checked out).
Cardoso finished with 12 points in 16 minutes and Carter added 16 points in 28 minutes.
Billings and Cunningham both made big plays and each impressed in the fourth quarter, with Billings scoring seven of her 13 points and Cunningham adding five of her 13.
Billings scored a layup on a nice pass from Taurasi and later knocked down a corner 3-pointer.
"Our fours have been spacers, and she's probably more used to playing in the dunker,” Tibbetts said about Billings.
“Although I loved seeing that corner three from her. I think she'd like that we told her that she can shoot those too. She's got a good knack for cutting, even transition, spread-out rim runs. We're going to get used to seeing her throw that ball ahead and just her energy was very contagious tonight.”
Cunningham later knocked down a deep three and ensuingly made a layup she was fouled on that was part of a 10-0 Mercury run.
The Mercury are now 13-0 when tied or leading going into the fourth quarter, the only undefeated team in the league.
The Mercury will now head to Atlanta to play games against the Dream (9-17) on Wednesday and Friday. Wednesday’s game can be watched on Arizona’s Family Sports or streamed on Mercury Live. Friday’s game can be watched on ION.
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