Diana Taurasi became the first WNBA player to reach 10,000 points, hitting the mark with 8:23 remaining in the third quarter against the Atlanta Dream on Thursday night. After the shot, the crowd in Phoenix erupted in cheers and Taurasi’s teammates surrounded her in a circle, jumping up and down and celebrating.
It was part of a huge night for Taurasi, who scored a season-high 42 points on 12 of 21 shooting, including 6 of 13 from 3-point range. She also hit all 12 of her free throws and the Mercury won 91-71.
Cheyenne Parker led the Dream with 20 points. Rhyne Howard added 14 as the Dream fell to 14-13.
The 41-year-old Taurasi started the night needing 18 points to make it to 10,000 — and finished at 10,024.
“On behalf of the WNBA and basketball fans worldwide, I want to extend my heartfelt congratulations to Diana on reaching the incredible milestone of 10,000 points as she continues to author new chapters is an illustrious WNBA career.” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a statement.
Taurasi got her scoring started with a corner 3-pointer about two minutes into the game and then drove through the Dream defense for a layup a few minutes later. She had 10 points by halftime.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
She was right back at it in the third quarter, hitting a layup on the Mercury’s first possession. Then she hit back-to-back 3-pointers — the last a 25-footer that got her to 10,000 points.
Taurasi has been the cornerstone of the Phoenix franchise since she was drafted first in 2004 out of UConn. She not only is the career regular-season scoring leader, but also holds that mark in the playoffs. She’s won three WNBA championships for the Mercury and was twice the MVP of the Finals.
Taurasi has averaged more than 19 points in her career, including a career-high 25.3 points in 2006. She is more than 2,500 points ahead of Tina Thompson, who is second on the scoring list with 7,488 points.
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