Phoenix Mercury sweep Chicago Sky to win 2014 WNBA title

Diana Taurasi - one of the most decorated stars of the WNBA - helped lead the Phoenix Mercury to a 3-0 sweep of the Chicago Sky in the 2014 WNBA Finals, capped with a final 87-82 win in Chicago on September 12 in Game 3. The victory gave the Mercury their third WNBA title (2007, 2009, 2014).

The Mercury were the WNBA's best team all season, led by the All Star trio of Taurasi, Candice Dupree, and sophomore Center Brittney Griner, who was the number one pick in the WNBA draft the season before last. The Mercury finished with a WNBA-best 29-5 record in the season, finishing at first place in the Western Conference. They swept pass the Los Angeles Sparks in the First Round of the playoffs, beat the 2013 champions Minnesota Lynx in the Conference Finals, and handled a tricky Sky squad with relative ease in the Finals.

Despite finishing fourth in the East, the Chicago Sky upset first-place Atlanta Dream in the First Round and then beat the Indiana Fever in the Conference Finals.

Griner's presence helped the Mercury win Game 1 and 2 of the WNBA finals over the Sky by an average of 25 points each. But Griner was ruled out of Game 3 as a result of the eye injury she sustained in Game 2. Taurasi took matters into her own hands, scoring 24 points in the decisive Game 3, and aided by 24 points by Dupree, helped hold off the Sky. Taurasi was named the Finals MVP.

This was Taurasi's third title - all with the Mercury - and her second WNBA Finals MVP award. She added this accolade to her WNBA MVP award, her five scoring titles, seven All Star appearances, three NCAA national championships, three Olympic Gold Medals, and a FIBA World Championship for Women gold.

Minnesota's Maya Moore, who was the leading scorer in the regular season in the league, was the 2014 WNBA regular season MVP.

United States win Women's World title

It has been a great summer for United States basketball, as the US Women’s team lifted the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women title after beating tournament hosts Czech Republic on Sunday, October 3 in Karlovy Vary. The Women’s squad successfully doubled up the country’s honours for this summer as the US Men’s team had earlier won the FIBA World Championship for Men gold medal in Turkey last month.

The Americans were led by Angel McCoughtry (18 points) and Diana Taurasi (16) in the Final as they beat Czech Republic 89-69. The US Women continued to exploit their size advantage and held a clear upper hand in rebounds against their rivals in the Final.

Hana Horakova, the Czechs’ best player, was named Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the tournament.

The tournament’s All-Star Five were:

Hana Horakova (Czech Republic)
Eva Viteckova (Czech Republic)
Diana Taurasi (USA)
Sancho Lyttle (Spain)
Yelena Leuchanka (Belarus)

Indian referee Snehal Bendke was present as one of the officials at this event.