PHOENIX MERCURY RE-SIGNS HEAD COACH COREY GAINES

Two-time WNBA champion and fastbreak specialist returns for third season

PHOENIX – The Mercury has signed Head Coach Corey Gaines through the 2010 WNBA season, General Manager Ann Meyers Drysdale announced today. Per club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“Coach Gaines has been a tremendous contributor to our championship success over the past few seasons,” Meyers Drysdale said. “With him at the helm and with the return of our proven core of players, we’re confident that the pieces will be in place to bring home a third championship in 2010.”

Gaines returns for his third season at the helm of the WNBA’s highest-scoring offense. With 2009 WNBA MVP Diana Taurasi and All-Star Cappie Pondexter, the Mercury shattered scoring records yet again in 2009 en route to the team’s second WNBA championship in three years. With Gaines on the bench, Phoenix has set WNBA scoring averages in three of the last four seasons, and has led the league in scoring average in each of that last four.

Gaines began his tenure with the Mercury as the top assistant under former Head Coach Paul Westhead in 2006. He spent two years as assistant coach, including Phoenix’s first championship campaign in 2007, before being named head coach on Nov. 7, 2007.

The Phoenix Mercury has been providing affordable and entertaining basketball in the Valley for 13 seasons. The two-time WNBA Championship team will begin its title defense on May 15 at US Airways Center against the Los Angeles Sparks with tip off set for 11 a.m. Tickets are available for as little as $10 a game for the 18-game season and can be purchased on phoenixmercury.com or by calling 602-252-WNBA.

-phoenixmercury.com-

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