ATLANTA — Crystal Langhorne had 30 points and 13 rebounds, Nicky Anosike added 29 points and 13 boards and the Washington Mystics beat the Atlanta Dream, 98-90, in overtime on Thursday night.
Matee Ajavon scored 24 points and Kelly Miller had 10 against for the Mystics (1-1), who were without Alana Beard (bruised foot) and rookie center Ta’Shia Phillips (ankle injury).
Erika DeSouza, who missed the final 2 minutes 44 seconds of overtime with an apparent nose injury, led the Dream (0-2) with 20 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
Iziane Castro Marques scored 16 points, Armintie Price added 12, Lindsey Harding had 11 and Sancho Lyttle 10.
Angel McCoughtry returned from a knee injury for Atlanta, but played just 3 minutes, going 1 for 4 from the field for two points.
Langhorne’s putback capped the Mystics’ 8-0 run that gave them an 82-80 lead — their first since late in the first quarter — with 4:35 left in regulation.
Castro Marques’ 16-footer put Atlanta ahead 85-82, but after Miller’s three-pointer tied it, Harding missed a wild runner that would’ve won the game at the regulation buzzer.
Miller’s straightaway jumper gave the Mystics a two-point lead in overtime, and Washington never trailed in the final 5 minutes.
Shalee Lehning scored the Dream’s only two baskets of overtime. In a rematch of a first-round playoff series that Atlanta won, 2-0, last season, the Mystics pulled within two points when Ajavon’s basket made it 77-75 with 7:57 remaining. The teams were playing for the first time since a draft-day deal sent Harding to the Dream for Miller and Phillips.
— Associated Press
Mystics add Gardin
With three players out due to injury, the Mystics received a medical hardship waiver from the WNBA for forward Kerri Gardin. Gardin suited up in Atlanta and finished with three points, five rebounds and a game-high six steals in 21 minutes.
Gardin, who played at Virginia Tech, spent the past three seasons with Connecticut, where she averaged 3.8 points and 3.1 rebounds in 14.6 minutes per game.
The 6-foot-1, 168-pound forward was released by Connecticut during preseason.
Her addition was necessitated by recent injuries Beard and Phillips.
WNBA teams typically are allowed only to field an 11-member roster.
A Mystics spokesman said the league granted Washington a medical hardship waiver because the team currently is without three players on its active roster.
Forward Monique Currie is expected to miss the entire season after tearing the ACL in her left knee in January.
— Steve Yanda
The Post Most: SportsMost-viewed stories, videos and galleries int he past two hours
Loading...
Comments