HOUSTON — Diana Taurasi scored 19 points and fueled a late comeback as thePhoenix Mercury beat the Houston Comets 76-74 Tuesday night to sweep the seasonseries.

Trailing by four with just over five minutes to play, the Mercury (17-10)went on 10-0 run and never trailed again. Taurasi capped the run with a long3-pointer with 3:44 to go. Kelly Mazzante added five points during the spurt.

Houston (8-18) had a chance to tie in the closing seconds, but TinaThompson, who had 12 points and 11 rebounds, missed a point-blank layup justbefore the buzzer.

Cappie Pondexter added 14 points for the Mercury, who went 4-0 againstHouston this season and are percentage points behind the first-place San AntonioSilver Stars in the Western Conference.

Michelle Snow scored 21 points for Houston and Sancho Lyttle added acareer-high 15, going 7-of-11 from the field.

With the game tied at 51, the Comets went on a 9-2 run late in the thirdquarter and led 60-53 when Crystal Smith made a pair of free throws with 28seconds left. But Phoenix scored the final four points of the quarter to startits comeback.

The Mercury didn’t score to start the game until Taurasi hit a long3-pointer 3:01 into the first period.

Phoenix allowed the Comets to score the first 12 points of the game, butanswered with 14 straight. Taurasi, who had 12 points in the opening half,capped the run with another long-distance 3.

Tamecka Dixon scored 10 first-half points off the bench for Houston, whichshot just 32 percent in the first 20 minutes. Dixon finished with 14 points.