There’s no other way to put it; after dropping three consecutive games, the Mercury needed a win.

The challenge that faced them, however, was an always-tough, first-place Minnesota Lynx team.

But coming into Sunday’s game against the Lynx, the Mercury was 5-2 against the Lynx since June 15, 2014 after snapping a 10-game losing streak against Minnesota.

Fortunately for Phoenix, they played one of their best all-around games of the season en route to a 79-67 victory while handing the Lynx their third loss in their past four games.

Now at 16-11 on the year, the Mercury are just 2.5 games behind Minnesota for the Western Conference lead. The two teams will again meet next Sunday in Minnesota.

Here are the takeaways from #MercVsLynx:

A Must-Win Game  

Following Sunday’s game against the Lynx, the Mercury embark on a grueling three-game road trip against the Sun, Mystics and Lynx.

In fact, five of the team’s next seven games are on the road, and the Mercury are 5-7 away from US Airways Center this season.

Couple that with the fact that Phoenix had lost three-straight, getting a win over the Lynx could not have come at a better time.

“They are the number one team in the West, so of course you kind of get that energy, that high from playing them,” DeWanna Bonner said. “I think we kind of got angry at ourselves and took accountability for our own actions so we went out there and played a great game.

“We finally won the first quarter so that’s a plus.”

The victory means the Mercury has won the season series against the Lynx for a second consecutive season.

The Little Things    

Marta Xargay started in place of Leilani Mitchell Sunday, as the coaching staff had hopes that Mitchell would bring an additional scoring punch off the bench.

The move seemed to help the Mercury get off to a quick start on both ends of the floor. The Mercury held the Lynx to just 22 points in the first half, a season low for Minnesota. The Lynx’s nine second quarter points were also a season low.

As as team, Phoenix forced the Lynx into 12 turnovers which led to 18 Mercury points while also holding Minnesota to just 38.7-percent shooting.

“Minnesota brings out a spark in us and we needed that,” Brittney Griner said. “Now we just want to be consistent. We don’t want to get one win and go right back to what we were doing—we want to remember what we did today and how we played, just breaking down every quarter and just try to win a quarter and then if we keep winning quarters, we’re going to win the game.”

“Championships Are Won With Rebounding and Defense.”

Sandy Brondello was more than pleased with her team Sunday.

Certainly for the win, but also for their collective effort on both ends of the floor.

“Championships are won with rebounding and defense,” she said. “And I thought we did both well tonight.”

After struggling with rebounding during their three-game losing streak, the Mercury finished with 38 rebounds compared to Minnesota’s 29. Phoenix allowed just six offensive boards from the Lynx all night.

“It’s something we haven’t done well all season long,” Brondello added. “Today, we set little goals for ourselves and that was to have the rebound margin so it was good. Maybe I should’ve started that a few games ago, but it just gives us a focus point—things we need to work on for that game and I think we achieved four of the five goals we set ourselves and that’s a start.”