Phoenix ? Hours after Cynthia Cooper resigned as Phoenix’s head coach, Lisa Harrison had a career-high 22 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Mercury past the Seattle Storm 62-53 Wednesday night.

Cooper, who was 19-23 less than 11/2 years into her first head coaching job, met with team president Bryan Colangelo and general manager Seth Sulka before the game.

“I decided that the best thing for me, my family and the organization as a whole was for me to step down,” Cooper said in a statement.

Linda Sharp took over as interim coach from Cooper.

Sharp was 1-1 as a fill-in after Cooper left June 14, the day before her twins were about to be delivered by a surrogate mother in Houston.

Cooper returned June 21 in a game at Houston and coached Sunday and Tuesday before resigning Wednesday.

Lauren Jackson had 13 points and Bird added 11 for Seattle.

Simone Edwards added 11 points and six rebounds for the Storm.

Fire 64, Miracle 57

Portland, Ore. Ukari Figgs tied a season high with 16 points and Kristin Folkl had 12 points and 11 rebounds for Portland. DeMya Walker had a career-high 14 rebounds to go along with 10 points for the Fire (5-8), who snapped a three-game losing streak. Shannon Johnson scored 18 points for the Miracle (7-4), who lost on the road for the first time in five games.

Sting 80, Shock 73

Auburn Hills, Mich. Andrea Stinson scored 22 points to help Charlotte topple Detroit. The Shock (0-12) has the longest losing streak in league history, surpassing an 11-game midseason slide by Washington in 1998. The Shock’s start moved them past the 2002 Detroit Tigers’ 0-11 start and matched the 2001 Detroit Lions at 0-12.