Myisha Hines-Allen scored a season-high 17 points, and the visiting Washington Mystics never trailed en route to a 76-59 victory over the Minnesota Lynx on Friday night.
Ariel Atkins added 12 and Elizabeth Williams had 11 points for the Mystics (9-5), who shot 43.5 percent and made 10-of-30 on 3-pointers to post back-to-back wins for the first time since May 17 and 20.
Washington also held the Lynx (3-10) to just 32.8 percent shooting, including 6-of-21 from beyond the arc.
Each team played without its veteran post star. Washington’s Elena Delle Donne had a scheduled game off to rest her ailing back, while Sylvia Fowles is out indefinitely with a cartilage issue in her right knee – apparently suffered during Tuesday’s 88-69 loss at New York.
Without Fowles, the Lynx were outscored 36-16 in the paint and outrebounded 39-32. Aerial Powers had a team-high 12 points and Jessica Shepard recorded 15 rebounds for Minnesota.
Alysha Clark scored the first five points of the game, and Washington jumped out to an 8-0 start on Natasha Cloud’s 3-pointer. However, despite shooting 4-of-15 from the field in the opening quarter, Minnesota didn’t allow things to get completely out of hand early. Notably because the Lynx went 6-of-10 from the free-throw in the first period.
Minnesota used a 6-0 run to tie the game at 24-24 in the second quarter, but Washington followed by scoring the game’s next 10 points. The Lynx went 5:18 without recording a basket until Rachel Banham’s bucket with 1:31 remaining in the first half.
Tianna Hawkins’ 3-pointer with 0.9 seconds left sent Washington into the break with a 39-28 edge. Minnesota shot 25.8 percent from the field (8-for-31) in the first half.
Washington led by 13 points on two occasions in the third quarter, but the Lynx used a 7-0 run to get within 43-38. However, treys from Hines-Allen, who entered averaging 6.2 points, and Clark gave control back to the visitors, who eventually pulled away in the fourth.
Minnesota’s Damiris Dantas had nine points in her 2022 debut after recovering from a foot injury.
–Field Level Media