16,102 See Phoenix Win Debut

Bridget Pettis scored 17 points, including the first basket in franchise history, and the Phoenix Mercury beat the Charlotte Sting, 76-59, Sunday at Phoenix in the inaugural WNBA game for both.

The game drew a crowd of 16,102--the largest to attend a women’s professional game in the United States. The previous standard was set the day before, when 14,284 watched the Sparks and New York Liberty in the WNBA opener at Los Angeles.

Pettis, a shooting guard who averaged 25 points in four pro seasons overseas, was five of 12 from the field before twisting her right ankle and leaving the game with 6:02 remaining.

Toni Foster added 14 points for the Mercury.

Charlotte’s Andrea Stinson scored 11 of her 18 points in the final nine minutes. But she didn’t get started until after the Sting missed its first 13 shots of the second half, allowing Phoenix to take a 57-33 lead.

The Mercury, which led, 44-30, at halftime, had the game wrapped up by the time Penny Moore made a layup on Charlotte’s 14th field-goal attempt with 10:30 to play.

Pettis had 13 points in the game’s first 13 minutes, including the three-point basket that was the first basket in team history, as the Mercury took a 32-22 lead on another three-point basket with 7:08 to go.

The Sting closed within 35-26 on a layup by Stinson with 2:48 to play, but Nancy Lieberman-Cline hit a three-pointer 42 seconds later and Pettis passed to 6-foot-5 Marlies Askamp, the Mercury’s tallest player, for a basket that gave the Mercury a 40-26 lead with a minute to play in the first half.