A New Low for Mystics In Loss to the Liberty

With 23 seconds remaining in regulation, Alana Beard found an easy route along the baseline for a layup that put the Washington Mystics in the scenario that they rehearse on almost a daily basis in practice. Up by two against the New York Liberty, all Washington needed was a defensive stop.

But when New York's Janel McCarville went one-on-one with Crystal Langhorne again just seconds later, the fifth-year WNBA veteran held the advantage.

Langhorne stumbled as she backpedaled toward the basket and fouled McCarville as the Liberty's 6-foot-2 center flung a one-handed shot that rattled off the rim three times before it fell through the basket with 9.1 seconds left. McCarville made the ensuing free throw to complete the decisive three-point play in New York's 60-59 win over the Mystics on Sunday at Verizon Center.

It was the lowest scoring game of the season for Washington (12-12), which dropped to fifth place in the Eastern Conference.

"I wouldn't make excuses for anything today," said Beard, who recorded a team-high 18 points and added five assists. "Our shots were a little short. You can't contribute it to anything but a lack of focus. In the second half, I thought we did a better job of executing and doing what we have to do, but it should have never come down to a last-second play."

Washington had time for one final possession, but the last-gasp three-point attempt by point guard Lindsey Harding (10 points) flew long and past the hoop entirely.

In addition to being their lowest-scoring game of the 2009 campaign, the Mystics shot a season-worst 9 of 18 from the free throw line to complement shooting a dismal 39 percent from the field.

"We can't go 50 percent from the line and win games," Coach Julie Plank said. "Our free throw shooting is poor. We're 13th in the league, I don't know. We have to be more consistent with that, and we did miss a lot of easy shots."

Early on against the Liberty (9-15), which has the second-worst record in the WNBA, the Mystics seemed to lack the energy and emotion they displayed just two days earlier in their most dramatic win of the season -- a 91-89 double-overtime victory against Connecticut.

With the exception of forward Monique Currie, who single-handedly got Washington off to an 8-1 start, none of the Mystics' shots could find the basket. But the damaged appeared minimal as the Liberty struggled to find any offensive flow as well. When New York switched to a zone defense in the second quarter, it started to take control of the slow-moving game. The Mystics were held to a season-low six points in the quarter, shot 3 of 18 from the field and trailed 31-23 at the half.

"We really wanted to try to confuse them as much as possible," said McCarville, who led all scorers with 19 points. "Make them think on every possession, make them use as much time on the clock as possible and have them come up with something desperate at the end of the shot clock, which we did a couple times."

Fast forward to the fourth quarter, when the Mystics held a 57-55 lead. Center Nakia Sanford missed two free throw attempts with 1 minute 39 seconds left and turned away from her teammates disgusted.

"It's just heartbreaking for me right now because I've put so much extra work in on my foul shooting," said Sanford, who finished 1 for 6 from the line. "Right now I just don't really understand how I missed that many considering the extra work I put in. It is a team effort, but at the same time I'm very disappointed with my small things."