Mystics Figure Out How to Finish Sparks

Mystics 75, Sparks 63

For each step the Washington Mystics take in moving away from their mediocre past during this 2009 season, they provide an equal reminder that they are still a team that is learning how to win. A team that continues to search for a killer instinct and the ability to put a game out of reach when they're in complete control. A team that can't quite make anything easy on itself yet.

Last night, that vulnerability emerged again as the Mystics watched a 24-point advantage over the Los Angeles Sparks deteriorate into a fourth-quarter nailbiter that left them scrambling to hold on for a 75-63 win at Verizon Center.

"I think we're just trying to learn how, when we get teams down, how to put them away and keep them away," forward Marissa Coleman said. "We got a little lax there, didn't push the ball and let them slow the game down."

With all their glitz and glamour, the Sparks (4-7) tend to represent everything the Mystics (6-5) have never been during their 12-year history. Equipped with a winning tradition, a roster featuring four Olympians -- including the reigning MVP -- and selected by league coaches as the preseason favorite to capture the 2009 WNBA championship, Los Angeles knows how to win.

When the Mystics struggled out of the halftime break, it extended the only invitation the Sparks required to surge back. Washington was relying on the same perimeter game that capitalized on its speed advantage against a larger Los Angeles lineup earlier in the game, but shot 5 of 20 from the field in the third quarter, making for easy transition layups for the Sparks.

"You don't expect teams to stay down," said Alana Beard, who recorded a game-high 26 points. "You have to expect them to come back. Fortunately we did a good job of maintaining when they went on that run. In the huddle, it was just all about defense for this team."

Beard led the charge from the opening tip as she recorded 13 points in the first quarter, a career best, by making 6 of 7 field goal attempts and helping Washington to a 22-7 advantage. But after that initial outburst, the Mystics' marquee guard was held without a basket until midway through the third.

Although the Mystics held Candace Parker, the league's reigning MVP and 2008 rookie of the year, to just two points and four rebounds, Los Angeles crept back thanks to long-range jumpers by guards Shannon Bobbitt and Betty Lennox. Before the quarter was half gone, the Sparks had cut the Mystics' advantage to single digits.

Washington missed its first seven field goal attempts of the quarter, prompting Coach Julie Plank to call a timeout.

"We needed to play with more energy," Coleman said of the discussion. "To get back to where we were when we were controlling the game. We let them slow the game down a lot."

A minute later, Beard stole the ball and capitalized off a fast break for an easy layup. Less than 10 seconds after that basket, Beard drove for another layup and restored her team's energy.

Los Angeles continued to mount its comeback -- and even tied the score at 63 on a layup by Noelle Quinn with 3 minutes 32 seconds remaining in regulation, but the Mystics refused to fade.