Taylor's 33 breaks mark for Rockers

Penny Taylor's record-breaking show led Cleveland's 73-56 win.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Penny Taylor's confidence grew with each shot. So did her point total.
Taylor scored a franchise-record 33 points to lead the Cleveland Rockers to a 73-56 victory over the Phoenix Mercury.
"That's pretty exciting," Taylor said. "It's always good to break records."
Taylor stole the ball and scored an uncontested layup with five seconds left to complete an 11-for-15 performance from the field. She broke the team record of 30 points shared by Chasity Melvin and Deanna Jackson.
Challenging Connecticut
Cleveland (12-13) snapped a two-game losing streak, and moved within a game of fourth-place Connecticut in the battle for a playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.
Lisa Harrison and Keyte Christenson scored 12 points apiece to lead Phoenix (4-19), which lost for the eighth time in nine games and fell to 1-12 on the road.
"It was like there was a lid on the basket," said All-Star Adrian Williams, the Mercury's top scorer at 11.2 points a game who went scoreless in 17 minutes.
"There was no particular game plan on her," Rockers coach Dan Hughes said. "But this was the best extended defensive effort we have had in a while. It all begins with defense with us."
The Rockers led at halftime 35-22 as Taylor scored 15 points.
Run of nine points
She scored nine straight points to put Cleveland in command at 22-8.
The second-year-forward triggered a 13-0 run by passing to Merlakia Jones for a layup and an 11-8 lead. Taylor then hit a layup, two mid-range jumpers, a 3-pointer and another layup.
"It's just a matter for me of being aggressive," said Taylor, who averages 12.2 points. "Once one shot went in, I just felt better and better, and my teammates could tell. They got me the ball."
Cleveland pushed its lead to 48-30 before Anna DeForge rallied the Mercury. The guard scored four points in an 11-4 run, and Phoenix got as close as 60-50 on a 3-pointer by Edniesha Curry.
Back in control
Seconds later, Taylor took a pass from Helen Darling and countered with a 3-pointer to put Cleveland back in control with 2:52 to play.
Melvin and LaToya Thomas each scored 13 points for Cleveland.
Taylor helped Cleveland shoot 52 percent from the field and her defense helped limit the Mercury to 31 percent shooting. Taylor had two of the Rockers' five blocked shots and three of their nine steals.
"She was definitely in a zone," Harrison said.