Mystics at Storm recap: Washington handles Seattle 73-66 in the first-of-two matches

In the first of two games the Mystics will play in Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle this weekend, the Mystics surely wanted to set the tone for the mini-series.

The game started out evenly, as the Mystics held a modest 19-16 at the end of ten minutes. But then Delle Donne (who played all but 2 minutes of the first half) with 11 points and Shakira Austin with 10 points led the way and dominated , as also Sykes and Cloud had 7 each to essentially blow-it open to 46-32 at the halftime buzzer.

Game over? Not if you ask Ezi Magbegor who led the Storm to start the 3rd quarter on a 6-13 run to cut the Mystic’s lead down to 52-45. Delle Donne remained scoreless in the 3rd quarter and Austin contributed only 2 points in that stretch and the game looked wide open instead of going into extended garbage time, as it might have seemed at the half-point mark. The quarter ended 56-48 with the Storm winning the period by 6 points, but with Sykes making an important basket at the buzzer to give the Mystics important momentum.

The Mystics held on to that lead in a closely fought 4th quarter, to close out the game 73-66. Delle Donne played 8 scoreless minutes in the 2nd half, but with Sykes scoring 11 in the 2nd half to finish as the Mystics’ leading scorer with 18. Magbegor on the other hand led all scorers with 24 point, but got insufficient help from her teammates, as the second leading scorer for the Storm was Horston with 10.

The Mystics remain in Seattle as they face the Storm again on Sunday afternoon.