Before last night’s game between the Washington Mystics and the Charlotte Sting, Washington forward DeLisha Milton-Jones said she expected an ugly contest. She called the Sting a wounded animal, a team desperate for a win.
She was right.
In a physical, sloppy game, the Mystics defeated Charlotte for the third time this season 65-50 before 10,401 at MCI Center and climbed over the .500 mark for the first time since May 21. The Mystics (8-7) scored 45 points after the break, their season high for a half.
In their second meeting this week, it looked like Charlotte (2-11) and Washington knew each other’s offense as well as their own. The Mystics committed 16 turnovers, though only four in the second half, and 21 fouls. The Sting had 23 turnovers and 25 fouls.
But luck again turned its back on the Sting. Shots rimmed out. Calls that had gone Charlotte’s way in the first half went to Washington in the second. And the Mystics’ shooters woke up.
“We expected this kind of game,” Washington guard Alana Beard said. “Your anticipation time is better when you know the plays. We just got on a roll. That we got defensive stops kind of took the life out of them.”
After shooting 29 percent in the first half, the Mystics made 53 percent in the second. There were 11 lead changes.
The Mystics used an 8-2 run early in the second half to crawl back into the game after trailing by 12 points at one point in the first half and 27-20 at halftime. They secured the win with a 9-1 run with less than eight minutes left.
Beard and Temeka Johnson scored 14 points each, with the latter also collecting seven rebounds. Charlotte’s Tangela Smith led all scorers with 21 points.
“The key was we still played defense,” Mystics coach Richie Adubato said. “We knew we would shoot the ball better. It’s an important game because it’s a conference game and a home game. It’s going to be a tight conference [race].”
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