It was as if Becky Hammon had popped off a screen into an empty gym.
With 3:27 remaining Sunday afternoon at Verizon Center, the San Antonio point guard found herself so wide open that she had time to pause, look up, look down, and then smile as she drained a 3-pointer from the elbow.
The shot all but sealed the visiting Silver Stars’ 83-75 win over the Mystics (6-11), who erased a 12-point third-quarter deficit and led by one with 7:46 left in the fourth but fell for the third straight game because they couldn’t stop either Hammon or Sophia Young, who scored San Antonio’s final 24 points.
“I’ve been playing about 10 years, and I’ve never had that much time in my life,” said Hammon of her fourth-quarter dagger, part of a season-high 28 points, six assists and five rebounds. She was also 10-for-10 at the charity stripe. “It was nice to be able to get nice and comfortable over there.”
Alana Beard scored 18 of her team-high 20 points in the second half, but she and the announced crowd of 10,439 were left to do what they’ve done for most of the first half of the season — lament yet another game given away through poor defense.
“I thought the team fought really hard,” said Beard. “It’s just a lot of miscommunication out there that caused our downfall. … The coaches had a great game plan, but it’s up to the players to come out and execute the way that they draw it up.”
The Silver Stars (12-6) got 23 points from Young and 18 from Ann Wauters, who had nine during a second quarter in which the Mystics were outscored, 23-11.
Rookie Crystal Langhorne made her fourth straight start for Washington, picking up a career-high 17 points and seven boards. Taj McWilliams-Franklin also had 15 points and eight rebounds.
