Guards Kelsey Plum and Dearica Hamby had an explosive fourth quarter in which they scored a combined 22 points to keep the Sparks in the playoff race.
To start the first quarter, the Sparks came out swinging against the Mystics. LA opened up with a 12-0 run, led by guard Rickea Jackson, who finished the quarter with 8 points.
The Mystics were able to stop the run eventually, but they weren’t in the best shape heading into the fourth quarter, as they were still down by 10 and shooting 16.7% from the field.
The Sparks’ key to success was limitingSonia Citron’s shooting abilities.
“We know how talented Citron is, so our game plan was to make other people take shots and we did that,” Hamby said postgame.
Despite the Mystics’ poor performance, they came out with vengeance in the second quarter, going on a run of their own. Washington scored 11 unanswered points, all from its bench, to swing momentum.
The good times didn’t last forever, though, as the Sparks ended up going on a 7-0 run in under 50 seconds to quickly put them ahead. Both teams improved their shooting as LA shot 41.2% while Washington made 42.1% of its field goals.
Even with Washington’s improvements, it couldn’t stop the Sparks from scoring 6 points in under 1:40. Going into halftime, the Sparks finally gained defensive and offensive momentum to gain a 40-31 lead.
The third quarter was no different from the first half. It continued to be a game of runs with the Mystics going on the biggest run at the end of the third in which they went on a 12-2 run for the final three minutes and were only down by 6 points.
Throughout the whole game, Washington wasn’t letting up. It played like it was always in the game, led mostly by forward Kiki Iriafen who had six 6 and three rebounds in the third quarter.
Iriafen continued her offensive and defensive prowess in the fourth quarter as she made key defensive stops and added 9 points. She contributed to the Mystics’ 7-0 run to start the fourth quarter, which put Washington up by one point.
“We got a little sloppy.” Roberts said. “I thought in the second and third [quarters], we were settling for threes when we needed to be attacking.”
The fourth quarter was a battle between the two teams and neither had the lead for longer than a few seconds. That was until Plum made huge back-to-back 3-pointers, then followed by drawing a foul and hitting both free throws.
Plum scored 14 of her 18 points in the fourth frame. She went six-for-six from the free-throw line in the fourth and had three rebounds.
LA was saved by Plum and Hamby’s heroic efforts, but if it wants a spot in the playoffs, Roberts knows this type of performance isn’t going to cut it.
“We have to be better at putting teams away. But we took care of business, and at this point, it’s [time to] advance and move on.”
The win puts the Sparks two games back behind the Indiana Fever for the eighth and final playoff spot. LA will play the Seattle Storm and a win against them could be crucial to keep them in the playoff race.