PHOENIX — The Indiana Fever missed a chance to win their first WNBA title at home. They also missed a chance on the road.

Tied with just over 4 minutes remaining, they couldn’t hold off the Phoenix Mercury on Friday night, losing 94-86.

They hung tough. They battled. But, still, they came up short.

They didn’t get their rings, but they didn’t hang their heads, either.

“We had a lot of naysayers out there who didn’t think we’d come out and bring it the way we did,” Fever forward Ebony Hoffman said.

The Phoenix Mercury, behind 26 points from Diana Taurasi and 24 from Cappie Pondexter, held off the Fever rally to claim their second WNBA title in three years.

The Mercury, who trailed the best-of-five series 2-1, won Wednesday’s Game 4 at Indianapolis and took Game 5 for a 3-2 victory.

“I thought we played about as well as we can play,” Fever coach Lin Dunn said.

Taurasi was voted series MVP, but Tamika Catchings was clearly the Fever’s top player in the Finals. In the climactic game, she had 16 points, nine rebounds, six assists and five steals.

Her five-game total of 48 rebounds was one off the playoff record, and her 34 assists and 17 steals set Finals records.

“It is just such a bitter feeling right now,” Fever guard Tully Bevilaqua said.

It was especially bitter for Katie Douglas, who returned to her hometown team and helped them reached this stage. But after shooting 1-of-7 on 3-pointers in Game 4, she followed that with 1-of-9 on Friday. With the Fever trailing 90-86, she twice missed 3-point attempts in the final 20 seconds.

“We could have come in here and hung our heads and not fought, but it just speaks volumes to what the Indiana Fever are about,” Douglas said. "Obviously, extremely disappointed with the outcome.

“We definitely played with a lot of guts and pride, and that’s all you can ask for.”

Hoffman said she knew Douglas felt awful.

“She’s a great 3-point shooter,” Hoffman said. “Sometimes, it doesn’t go in.”

The Fever trailed by 10 in the third but pulled into a tie at 80.

“The feeling when we tied the game was, ‘Obviously, we can do this,’ " Catchings said.

Tangela Smith made two 3-pointers to forestall the Fever rally, sending the Mercury ahead 83-80 and 86-82.

Tammy Sutton-Brown led the Fever with 22 points.

Hoffman, who had played brilliantly in the series, was limited to 20 minutes by foul trouble and scored four points.

Sutton-Brown and Davenport were a collective 16-of-24 from the field, and the rest of the team 17-of-50 (34 percent).

The Fever started crisply, continually passing to Sutton-Brown in the post. The Fever once led 14-5, and held a 23-16 edge at the quarter.

However, the Mercury’s high-powered offense next produced 35 points, a Finals record for a second quarter. They made their first eight shots and finished at 76.5 percent (13-of-17), a finals record for any quarter.