RSS
Home
Lynx's Montgomery finished off Mystics
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
In an evenly matched nail-biter at Target Center in Minneapolis, MN, the Washington Mystics let a 9-point lead slip away tonight in a 96-94 overtime loss to the Minnesota Lynx. The Mystics dropped to 5-5, while the Lynx rose to 8-4.
At the half, the two teams were tied at 38, but the Mystics dominated the third quarter and held a 65-56 lead on the strength of recent acquisition Bernice Mosby’s strong third-quarter play. Mosby had 10 off the bench for the night, all the in second half. Her performance coupled with Lindsey Harding’s brilliant outing looked to put the Mystics in the catbird seat. Harding, acquired from Minnesota in the offseason, took her former team to task with 27 points.
Lynx guard Renee Montgomery would have none of it, however. Coming off the bench, she went on a scoring rampage that essentially gave her team the victory. With 3:07 to go in the game and her team trailing 74-68, Montgomery scored her fifth point of the night to make the score 74-70, Mystics. No big deal, right? But feeling pretty good, Montgomery decided to try her hand again, and again, and again and so on. She proceeded to score her team’s next 10 points to give the Lynx an 80-77 lead. Moments later, the game was tied at 81-81 at the end of regulation, and both teams were seeing overtime for the first time this season.
Montgomery wasn’t done. She added 6 points in overtime to finish with 21. To put her performance into perspective, she scored 16 of her team’s 28 points in the final 8 minutes of play. Down go the Mystics. Down go the Mystics. Only such a knockout performance could have overshadowed teammate Nicky Anosike’s 24 points. And what of teammate Charde Houston’s 19 points and 8 rebounds? The center and forward basically kept it close for the Lynx for three quarters until Montgomery’s lights-out spree.
As for the Mystics, they had their chances in the closing moments of regulation and overtime but were unable to hit some key shots. Unfortunately, Harding’s tremendous 27-point night mattered not, and neither did Crystal Langhorne’s 12 points and 7 rebounds. Chasity Melvin had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Monique Curry had 11 rebounds, but these performances too fell short in the most meaningful category: wins.
On Saturday, the Mystics take on Los Angeles at Verizon Center at 7:00pm.
