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Phoenix Mercury building momentum after first win of season

The Mercury will face the L.A. Sparks for the third time in as many weeks on Friday night.

PHOENIX — The Phoenix Mercury are coming off their first win of the season and they've got a full week of rest heading into Friday's game against the Los Angeles Sparks. 

The teams have faced each other in a preseason and regular season game already this month, making Friday night’s meeting their third in as many weeks. Mercury guard and future Hall of Famer Diana Taurasi knows that level of familiarity comes with some advantages.

“Yeah, I mean, we know them really well. Obviously, we know Curt [Miller] really well. They’ve played, I think, really good basketball early in the season. They’re just a tough-nosed team that you really got to bring it every possession, both on defense and offense,” Taurasi said. “Like I said the last game, we saw a little bit of what we could be and also a lot of things to work on.”

The basketball superstar simply known as DT is back for her 19th season in the Valley and the soon-to-be 41-year-old is working to bring a fourth WNBA championship to Phoenix. 

While this group is still learning to work with one another under second-year head coach Vanessa Nygaard, the Mercury are already considered to be a dark horse to win it all this year. There are 37 games left in the regular season, but Taurasi is optimistic about the direction the team is trending.

“I think this team is just in a good place in a lot of ways. You know, physically we're getting healthy now with Shey [Peddy] and Meg [Gustafson] coming back,” Taurasi said. “Like every season, every team has to find their own identity… It’s been a fun couple of weeks trying to get on the same page.”

The Mercury hosts the Sparks on Friday at Footprint Center. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.

Follow the conversation with Lina Washington on Twitter: @LWashingtonTV. If you have a sports story idea, e-mail Lina at LWashington@12News.com.

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