Sancho Lyttle's strike late to lift Atlanta Dream past Washington Mystics, 72-70 – WNBA Recap
Sancho Lyttle’s 13-foot jumper in the closing second gave Atlanta Dream a 72-70 victory over Washington Mystics here at Verizon Center on Tuesday night. It was second consecutive victory for Atlanta and the result put them ahead
of Chicago Sky for the fourth position in the Eastern Conference.
Lyttle, playing in her second game after returning from a back injury, ended with eight points and six rebounds in the victory. Angel McCoughtry once again led the Dream with 19 points, five assists, four steals and three rebounds.
She pinned 10 of 11 free throws in more than 31 minutes.
Erika de Souza recorded a double-double with game best 12 rebounds and 18 points. The player also blocked four shots and finished the night with 9 for 15 from the field. Iziane Castro Marques also came off the bench with 10 points
for Dream, who have won seven of their previous ten games.
Mystics were led by their guard Matee Ajavon, who headed all players with 28 points, including 17 in the last period. However, she could not prevent the already the slumping Washington from falling to their eighth defeat in the
last 10 games. Ajavon also had four boards and three steals for Mystics. She shot 10 for 17 from the field and 5 for 6 from free throw line.
Crystal Langhorne was another bright spot in the Washington’s defeat with 23 points, seven rebounds and two steals while Marissa Coleman pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds.
Atlanta shot 44.4 percent from the floor and 82.4 percent from free throw line while Washington shot just 34.8 percent from the flied and 78.3 percent from the line. Dream outscored Mystics 21-4 on the points in the paint. They
however committed 21 turnovers as compared to just 16 by the hosts.
The game got off to an even start and both the teams scored 22 points in the opening quarter. Atlanta started to pull away late in the second quarter took a 39-34 lead with 58 seconds to go, before Washington scored four consecutive
points to cut the deficit to just one at halftime.
In the third quarter, both of the conference rivals continued to play a close game but Dream found their way to maintain a 51-48 lead.
Trailing by three points, the Mystics turned it on in the fourth quarter and went ahead by 70-65 with 39 seconds remaining. McCoughtry and Price however combined for 5 points and tied the game at 70.
Lyttle broke the game at that point when she hit a terrific jumper after catching a kick out feed from her teammate Armintie Price to make it 72-70 for good. Washington still had a chance to win, but Langhorne missed a three-pointer
at the buzzer.
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