Lyttle: "mental breakdowns"

The Houston Comets led the Phoenix Mercury 60 to 57 at the end of the third quarter Tuesday night. In fact, the Comets led the Mercury 68 to 64 with 5:40 left in the fourth quarter. Phoenix scored 10 straight points to lead 74 to 68; but, Michelle Snow and Tina Thompson pulled the Comets within two points on two occasions.

With 6.6 seconds left in the game and trailing 76 to 74, Tina Thompson received a pass from Snow near the top of the key. Thompson drove to the basket; attempted a left-handed lay up; the shot rolled off the rim; Snow rebounded the miss with 0.3 seconds remaining; however, her shot attempt was after the buzzer (and no good, too, by the way).

The Comets turned the ball four times in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter.

After the game, Sancho Lyttle said to The HRR, "Mental breakdowns are points for the other team. We broke down at the wrong time. They started on their run when we broke down. You can never tell when we're going to break down; but, we have to try not to (break down) at crucial points in the game."