Mystics top Aces to end Las Vegas’ four-game winning sreak
WASHINGTON — Natasha Cloud scored 16 points and had nine assists, Shakira Austin added 15 points and eight rebounds and the Washington Mystics beat Las Vegas 83-73 Tuesday night to snap the Aces’ four-game win streak.
Ariel Atkins added 13 points for the Mystics (20-12). Elena Delle Donne scored five points on 1-of-7 shooting but grabbed 11 rebounds and had five assists.
Myisha Hines-Allen scored six straight points before Rui Machida made a driving layup to cap an 8-0 spurt that gave Washington a 65-59 lead going into the fourth quarter. Kelsey Plum hit a 3-pointer for Las Vegas that made it 68-all with 6:24 to play but Austin scored four points and Cloud added the final seven in a 13-0 spurt before Jackie Young hit a 3-pointer with 1:24 left to snap the Aces’ scoring drought of 5-plus minutes.
A’ja Wilson led Las Vegas (22-9) with 22 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks.
Washington, which has won back-to-back games and five of its last six, had 25 assists on 31 made field goals.
LIBERTY 102, SPARKS 73
NEW YORK — Sabrina Ionescu scored 31 points on 11-of-16 shooting, Natasha Howard had 24 points and 11 rebounds and the Liberty beat the Sparks in the first of back-to-back games between the teams.
The Liberty (12-18) and Los Angeles (12-18), who play again Wednesday in New York, are tied with the Atlanta Dream for the eighth and final playoff spot with less than two weeks remaining in the regular season, a half-game behind the Phoenix Mercury (13-18) and a half-game ahead of the 11th-place Minnesota Lynx (12-19).
Marine Johannes hit a 3-pointer to give the Liberty the lead for good at 21-20, Han Xu made two free throws to make it 45-33 with about 4 minutes left in the first half and the Sparks trailed by double figures throughout the second half.
Brittney Sykes led the Sparks with 19 points.
SUN 87, MERCURY 63
UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Alyssa Thomas posted her second triple-double in less than two weeks and the Sun beat the Mercury.
Thomas, who recorded the franchise’s first triple-double in a win over the Minnesota Lynx on July 22, finished with 10 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. The No. 4 pick overall in the 2014 draft, the 6-foot-2 Thomas is just the fifth WNBA player with multiple triple-doubles and joined Candace Parker (Chicago Sky) and Sabrina Ionescu (New York Liberty) as the only players with more than one this season.
Natisha Hiedeman had 16 points to lead seven Connecticut players scoring in double figures, It’s the 12th time in league history that many players have reached double-digits in the same game. Connecticut (21-10) has done it three times.
Skylar Diggins-Smith and Sophie Cunningham scored 15 points apiece for Phoenix (13-18).
WINGS 84, SKY 78
CHICAGO — Marina Mabrey scored a season-high 26 points, Teaira McCowan added 20 points and 12 rebounds and the Wings beat the Sky.
Dallas was missing Arike Ogunbowale, who is third in the league in scoring at 19.9 points, due to an ankle injury.
Mabrey hit two free throws to make it 25-24 with 7:20 left in the second quarter and the Wings never again trailed. McCowan made a layup to stretch the lead to 74-60 — the biggest of the game — with 6:58 to play and Dallas held on.
The Wings missed their final 10 field-goal attempts, but made all eight of their free throws in the final 3 1/2 minutes to seal the win.
Kahleah Copper led Chicago with 19 points and 11 rebounds. The defending WNBA champions, the Sky (23-8) had their franchise-record 10-game home win streak snapped.
