Recap: Mystics beat Mercury, 90-77

Back on a win streak!

The Washington Mystics completely outclassed the Phoenix Mercury on Thursday, beating their hosts 90-77 at Footprint Center.

The Mystics controlled this one nearly wire-to-wire. Aaliyah Edwards muscled in a putback that gave Washington a 9-7 midway through the opening quarter and the team never looked back. They closed the first up 24-15.

Washington continued to pour it on in the second quarter as their squad shot a scorching 11-of-18 from the field to carry a 50-32 lead into the halftime break. It was a complete team effort as five different players — Karlie Samuelson, Emily Engster, Julie Vanloo, Ariel Atkins, and Stefanie Dolson — each scored two field goals to pad the halftime lead.

Brittney Sykes was held to just two points in the first half but came alive in the third. She opened the quarter with a sweet reverse layup en route to scoring 10 of her 14 points in Q3. Her scoring binge helped the Mystics build their advantage to as large as 25 points.

The Mystics’ lead became insurmountable in the fourth as the visitors cruised to a 13-point victory.

Karlie Samuelson was literally perfect in the contest. She led the team with 19 points on a spotless 6-of-6 shooting clip, including five from downtown. Her five made threes without a miss are the second-most in WNBA history.

Karlie did it despite playing with a pretty gruesome-looking bump on her noggin.

The win was the Mystics fifth over their last six games and their first by double-digits in over two months.

The win-hungry Washington squad will face a huge test on Sunday when they take on the 24-9 Minnesota Lynx.