Close and hard-fought win!
After a couple of losses, the Washington Mystics headed to L.A. to face the Sparks trying to get back on the W column. Overall, The Mystics’ season hasn’t quite started on the right foot, with two losses in the preseason and then 12 consecutive losses in the season, but since then the Mystics have been playing pretty well and have sported a 4-3 record. Altogether, they were 4-15 coming into tonight. The Sparks on the other hand were right above at 4-14. So not exactly a fight of titans tonight in L.A…
The game seemed to go L.A.’s way for three quarters. The Sparks won each of the three first quarters and led 64-52 going into the final ten minutes.
Game over?
Not quite. The Mystics came back from behind, tightening up the defense in the fourth quarter, and allowing only 16 points in the final frame, while shooting lights out to the tune of 30 points.
The effort was well-distributed, with four of the five starters scoring in double digits. Shatori Walker-Kimbrough sunk a couple of important three-pointers with the nice smooth stroke of hers (going 3-from-5 from distance), and overall was a huge contributor with 17 points off the bench to lead all scorers. Talbot and McDonald also scored 17 each for the Sparks, but they just ran out of gas in the final three minutes. The score looks a bit closer than it actually was, as the Mystics already took a commanding 82-77 lead with 14 seconds left, and Talbot scored a three with a second left to make it look close.
For the Mystics, Dolson had 10 including the go-ahead basket to give the Mystics the 79-77 lead. Hines-Allen had 16, and Vanloo had 15. Atkins played 31 long minutes and scored an effective 12 points in 9 shots, including 2-from-3 from deep.
Next, the Mystics play the Aces in Las Vegas on Thursday, 4th of July.