It was a microcosm of the roller coaster summer that has been the 2007 Washington Mystics: Yet another slow start, followed by a steady recovery and one more dramatic comeback victory.
At the center of it all, once again, was superstar guard Alana Beard, who added another chapter to her magical career, scoring every one Washington’s 18 fourth-quarter points — the second most points scored by a single player in one quarter in WNBA history — to give the Mystics a 65-64 win over the Sun in front on 7,054 at Verizon Center.
Beard, who finished with a game-high 28 points and five rebounds, guaranteed the Mystics (15-17) would at least hold on to a half-game lead over New York for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Coco Miller had another strong performance off the bench, adding 15 points on 6-for-7 shooting from the field.
Margo Dydek had 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Sun (17-14) — currently the league’s hottest team, which had won 11 of its previous 13 games.
Washington started flat, missing its first five shots, and took it on the chin, literally, when DeLisha Milton-Jones caught an elbow on a fast break finish by Connecticut’s Katie Douglas midway through the first quarter. Milton-Jones missed the remainder of the half while receiving stitches in her lower lip, watching from the training room as the Mystics fell behind by as many as 13 points before cutting the deficit to 36-30 by halftime.
Milton-Jones opened the second half with a 20-foot jump shot, and Washington cut the Sun’s lead to 48-47 by the end of the third quarter.
Beard put the home team ahead for the first time with a short jumper with 9:25 remaining in the game. She went 5-for-8 from the field and 7-for-7 at the line in the final quarter.
