Mystics vs. Aces final score: Meesseman and Delle Donne lead Washington to 97-95 win

The Washington Mystics pulled out a 97-95 win over the Las Vegas Aces in Game 1 of their WNBA semifinals series.

This game was an up-and-down affair. Sometimes, fans felt like the Mystics would run up the score against the Aces with their offense. The first quarter showed Washington’s offense at their best with plays like these.

But of course, Las Vegas certainly came back with runs of their own. The second quarter was all Vegas as A’ja Wilson scored 8 of her 23 points and helped them head to halftime with a 57-50 lead. The Aces finished the first half shooting 61.8 percent from the field.

The Mystics were able to contain the Aces’ hot shooting in the second half. Emma Meesseman scored 13 of her 24 points in that period to help Washington regain the lead. She even made power moves to the basket like this!

Meesseman led Washington with 27 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists starting alongside presumptive WNBA MVP Elena Delle Donne, who had 24 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists.

The main takeaway from the forwards’ collective performances goes against the notion that the two couldn’t play well together. Both Meesseman and Delle Donne started the game and played long stretches together. If they keep this up for the rest of this series, they should make the Finals quite comfortably, even with the outcome of this game being quite close.

The Mystics will stay at home for Game 2 on Thursday, Sept. 19. Tipoff is at 8:30 p.m. ET.