Kiki Iriafen and Shakira Austin each logged a double-double as the Washington Mystics cruised to a 93-82 win over visiting Toronto on Wednesday, sending the Tempo to their 12th consecutive defeat.
Iriafen scored 21 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for Washington (21-14), which won for the ninth time in 11 games. Michaela Onyenwere added 14 points, while Sonia Citron contributed 13 points and six assists. Austin finished with 11 points and 10 boards.
The Mystics punished Toronto inside, earning a 43-27 rebounding advantage and outscoring the visitors 38-30 in the paint. Washington connected on 45.5% of its shots from the field and canned 24 of 28 foul shots (85.7%).
Kiki Rice paced the Tempo (10-25) with 19 points. Aneesah Morrow added 13 points and eight rebounds, while Laura Juskaite hit for 12 points. Temi Fagbenle came off the bench to chip in 10.
Toronto canned only 43.1% of its shots from the field, although it went 11 of 27 (40.7%) from the 3-point arc.
The pregame storyline centered around who wasn’t playing for Toronto. Already up against it with an extended losing streak and playing on back-to-back nights, the Tempo found out just before tipoff that Marina Mabrey (hamstring) wouldn’t play.
Toronto decided earlier Wednesday that Brittney Sykes, who returned Tuesday night from a two-month absence caused by a left plantar fascia injury, wouldn’t play on consecutive nights. That left the Tempo without their top two scorers, who combine to tally 40.6 points per game.
For one quarter, Toronto was able to cope, using four 3-pointers to trail just 25-24. But Washington, which entered the night second in the WNBA in scoring defense, predictably clamped down. The Mystics allowed just nine second-quarter points and held a 47-33 advantage at halftime.
The Tempo trailed only 49-40 after Rice hit a layup off a Julie Allemand feed at the 7:53 mark of the third quarter. The Mystics then went on an 11-2 run, capped by consecutive 3-pointers from Onyenwere, for a 60-42 lead.
The margin never dipped below eight points in the remainder of the game.
–Field Level Media
