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. The 6-foot-5 forward finished with a game-high 25 points on 8-for-10 FG.
But the Sparks had every answer. Nneka Ogwumike drilled a go-ahead triple with less than two minutes remaining to regain the lead before consecutive Sonia Citron layups made it 86-85 Sparks 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 and nine rebounds on 6-for-10 FG.