The Washington Mystics dropped a close one to the Los Angeles Sparks on Friday night in a 92-87 home defeat.
Washington led 25-21 after the opening quarter behind seven points from Shakira Austin and six more from Kiki Iriafen. But the Sparks responded with a dominant second quarter to take a 42-37 advantage into halftime.
Erica Wheeler starred in the second half to finish with a team-high 21 points on 8-for-16 shooting as Los Angeles took an eight-point lead into the final quarter.
Austin’s paint dominance
continued in the fourth quarter as she brought Washington all the way back to knot the contest at 81 late in the final frame. Austin finished with a game-high 25 points on 8-for-10 FG.
But the Sparks had every answer. Ngeka Ogwumike drilled a go-ahead triple with less than two minutes remaining to regain the lead before consecutive Sonia Citron layups made it an 86-85 contest with 44 seconds to play.
Wheeler and Austin traded buckets before Wheeler’s free throws put Los Angeles back up by three with 15.8 seconds remaining. Iriafen got a clean look at the game-tying triple but missed, which led to game-sealing free throws to give the Sparks a narrow road victory.
Citron finished with 21 points and eight assists on 7-for-10 FG. Iriafen tallied 13 points on nine rebounds on 6-for-10 FG.
