Mystics Complete 20-Point Comeback Against The Dallas Wings To Win Fifth Straight (8-6-26)
By: Jaden Golding
Headline Photo Credit: Riley Smith-LMS Network
WASHINGTON, D.C. — It was only five days ago when the Washington Mystics defeated the Dallas Wings at home in a tightly contested 81-75 finish. Last night, Washington chose to finish the game dramatically, coming from behind as much as 20 points down to beat Dallas for the second straight contest, 96-92 on Wednesday evening.
Shakira Austin, who’s been playing some of the best ball of her career this past month, finished with a dominant 27-point, 13-rebound double-double, guiding the Mystics to their fifth straight victory and improving to 17-12.
Wednesday night’s victory reflects the energy and drive of this young team, which never quits and always plays until the last buzzer. It was the team’s fifth double-digit comeback of the year.
Late in the third quarter, Dallas point guard Paige Bueckers drained a deep three-ball from the top of the key off the inbound pass to make it a 76-56 lead for the Wings with 3:11 left.
From that point on, Washington would take over, cutting away at the lead in those final three minutes in the third. It was capped off with a last-second three-pointer at the buzzer by Sonia Citron, with D.C. only trailing by eight entering the fourth.
Dallas regained its double-digit advantage, leading by 12 with 7:26 remaining in regulation. Washington embarked on a 12-0 run over nearly the next four minutes, highlighted by clutch back-to-back layups by Michaela Onyenwere to cut the deficit to two. Rookie Cotie McMahon finished it by drawing a foul and knotting the game up 86-86 at the 3:38 mark.
A quick response by Dallas star forward Alanna Smith with a layup was short-lived, as McMahon did what she always does and attacked the rim with an underneath and-one layup over Bueckers. Washington captured its first lead of the night, 89-88, off the three-point play.
In the final minute and a half, Citron came up huge for Washington, hitting back-to-back clutch layups to give the Mystics a five-point lead with nearly a minute left.
A pair of free throws made by Dallas put them within one possession of Washington.
Washington head coach Sydney Johnson had a huge foul call overturned for them, which set up McMahon, who made a clutch block on Arike Ogunbowale’s layup attempt and then turned around on the offensive end and closed out the game with a turnaround jumper with 14 seconds left.
McMahon scored a new career-high 18 points off the bench.
Georgia Amoore and Citron each finished with 12 points. Kiki Iriafen scored 11, and Onyenwere had 10 points to round out the entire starting five finishing in double digits for Washington.
Jessica Sheppard led Dallas with 22 points and 11 rebounds, also dishing out seven assists, flirting with a triple-double performance. Smith had a 22-point and 11-rebound double-double.
Up Next:
Washington puts its five-game winning streak to the test by welcoming the East-leading Atlanta Dream to CareFirst Arena on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
