Seattle’s Nneka Ogwumike scored 30 points and sank a tiebreaking 15-foot jumper with 1.2 seconds left as the visiting Storm defeated the Washington Mystics 84-82 on Sunday afternoon.
Ogwumike finished 11-for-15 from the field. Teammate Dominique Malonga pumped in 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds off the bench as the Storm (20-18) won for the fourth time in their last five games.
Seattle’s Brittney Sykes hit a tiebreaking 3-point basket with 16.2 seconds remaining against her former team before Sug Sutton answered with a tying 3 for the Mystics, with the Storm calling timeout at the 6.1-second mark to set up the winning play. Sykes spent 2 1/2 seasons with the Mystics before she was acquired by the Storm earlier this month.
Sykes, Skylar Diggins and Gabby Williams all scored 10 points for Seattle, which used a late 7-0 spurt after falling behind for the first time.
Shakira Austin’s career-high 30 points led the Mystics (16-22), who’ve lost four games in a row.
Sonia Citron added 14 points, Kiki Iriafen posted 12 points and Stefanie Dolson had 11 points for Washington, which was charged with 20 turnovers.
Ogwumike made her first six 3-point attempts. She ended up 6-for-7 on 3-point shots, which was enough to match the Mystics from beyond the arc. Washington was 6-for-11 on 3s as a team.
Ogwumike’s 3-pointer for the last basket of the third quarter stretched Seattle’s lead to 67-60. Washington scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter and took its first lead of the game on Austin’s drive to the basket with 4:53 remaining. Sixteen seconds later, Austin’s jumper made it 73-70.
Then the Storm strung together the next seven points for a 77-73 edge. Austin scored the next four points, setting up a frantic final minute with Malonga and Iriafen trading short-range baskets before Sykes and Sutton got into the act.
–Field Level Media
