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Mystics vs. Mercury final score: Washington’s momentum absent in the second half; lose to Phoenix 94-72

Mystics had a disappointing second half leading to their third consecutive loss.

By Diamond Holton
Washington Mystics v Phoenix Mercury Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images

The Washington Mystics were handed their 10th loss this season by the Phoenix Mercury losing 94-72 on Friday night. At the start of the game the Washington Mystics took a 24-second violation as one of their many ways of bringing attention to social justice.

Emma Meesseman was back in the starting lineup after missing a few games with a shoulder strain, but could definitely could tell wasn’t 100 percent as she only scored three points shooting 1-of-10 from the field. Despite that she grabbed assist number 450 which made her third all-time on the Mystics franchise list.

Washington had a good first half leading 41-33 behind Myisha Hines-Allen’s 10 points and five rebounds. Mystics were distributing the ball evenly getting everyone involved as Meesseman, Ariel Atkins and Leilani Mitchell each had three assists in the first half. It seemed like the Mystics had control of the game and would go into the second half being the dominant team.

It didn’t work out that way.

The second half was where Washington was nowhere to be found as the Mercury took charge, stole the lead and remained in the forefront the rest of the game. Phoenix outscored Washington 61-31 in the second half with 32 of that 61 coming in the fourth quarter.

The Mystics just couldn’t stop the three-point shooting from the Mercury as they shot 50 percent going 13-26 from the field. Majority came from Skylar Diggins-Smith as she shot six of eight from the field finishing with 24 points.

For the Mystics Hines-Allen finished with 14 points, but was held to only five points in the second half. Including Hines-Allen, Mitchell (17), Tianna Hawkins (13) and Kiara Leslie (10) all finished in double figures. Atkins struggled along with Meesseman scoring five points for the entire game.

It’s a toss up on if Washington can make the playoffs at this point if they keep losing games. At 4-10, the Mystics are a game out of eighth place.

The Mystics play this Sunday against the Connecticut Sun at 4 p.m. ET airing on NBC Sports Washington as well as Twitter.