‘We Have To Make A Decision’: Dallas Wings Blow 20-Point Lead In 96-92 Loss At Washington Mystics

WASHINGTON — The Dallas Wings led by 20 points in the third quarter and lost 96-92 to the Washington Mystics on Wednesday night at CareFirst Arena. Washington outscored Dallas 40-16 over the final 13 minutes and 11 seconds in front of a sellout crowd of 4,200.

Dallas dropped to 19-12. Washington moved to 17-12 and closed the season series with a 2-1 edge, the third consecutive year it has won the series.

Three previous Mystics teams had erased a deficit of at least 20 points and won. The last one did it on July 18, 2017, a 100-96 win over the Atlanta Dream. Wednesday was also Washington’s fifth straight win, its longest run since a six-game stretch from Aug. 25 to Sept. 8, 2019.

Shakira Austin finished with 27 points, 13 rebounds, and 2 assists on 9-of-15 shooting. She went 8-of-9 from the free-throw line. The double-double was her 12th of the season and the 26th of her career. Austin has now posted consecutive games of at least 25 points and 10 rebounds, and A’ja Wilson is the only other player in the WNBA to do that this season.

Washington closed the third quarter on an 11-0 run, capped by a 30-footer from Sonia Citron at the buzzer that cut the margin to 80-72.

“Well, I think it all started in the third quarter,” Wings coach Jose Fernandez said. “We didn’t close out the third quarter, right? So let’s start there. And then we had the break in the… You know, Sonia hit that big three there at the end to close the third, and it went from an 8-0 run to an 11-0 run. But you’re still up eight going into the fourth, and then we got it up 12.”

“But I thought we missed some shots around the basket we normally make, but that’s not the case, you know?” Fernandez continued. “I thought we played a good 27, 28 minutes. I mean, we really struggled to guard one-on-one at times at certain places. You know, both teams shot 50%, but again, look at 22 free throws. They turned it over 11, we turned it over nine. They got the momentum and we didn’t answer at times in some of those crucial possessions.”

Through the first half, Dallas shot 21-of-31 for 67.7% and led 59-44. Washington shot 15-of-35 over those two quarters. Only two previous Wings teams have shot 67.7% or better in a half, the last on Aug. 14, 2022. Dallas had been 14-0 this season when it scored at least 50 points in a half.

Jessica Shepard matched her career high with 22 points and added 11 rebounds and a game-high 7 assists on 11-of-13 shooting. It was her 20th double-double of the season, second in the WNBA. Shepard also passed 500 career assists, making her the third-fastest player in league history to reach 1,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, and 500 assists. She got there in 156 games.

Alanna Smith put up 21 points, 11 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, and 3 blocks in 31 minutes, going 9-of-17 from the field and 2-of-7 from three. She tied or set season highs in points, field goals made, rebounds, steals, blocks, and minutes. The double-double was her first of the season and the sixth of her career.

Shepard and Smith combined for 43 points and 22 rebounds.

“Well, I mean, both of them had a double-double, right?” Fernandez explained. “So, you know, Shep 11 for 13, nine for 17 with Lan as she stretched the floor, hit a couple threes.”

“But man, I thought Cotie McMahon was really good for them,” Fernandez continued.

Washington Mystics Score 12 Straight To Erase The Dallas Wings’ Lead

Shepard’s reverse layup with 7:26 to play put Dallas up 86-74. The Wings did not score again until 3:15 remained. Washington ran off 12 consecutive points over that span, four of them from Cotie McMahon at the line and four more from Michaela Onyenwere inside, to tie the game at 86 with 3:38 left.

A three-point play from McMahon at the 3:00 mark gave Washington its first lead of the night, 89-88. Citron scored in the lane on back-to-back possessions to make it 93-88 with 1:12 to go.

Two Arike Ogunbowale free throws with a minute left cut it to 93-90. Dallas got the stop it needed, and Ogunbowale drew a shooting foul on McMahon on the drive with 33.2 seconds on the clock. Mystics coach Sydney Johnson challenged, and the call was overturned. McMahon scored at the other end for a 95-90 lead with 11.4 seconds to go. Paige Bueckers answered with a driving layup at 7.5 seconds, and Citron split a pair at the line. Bueckers’ fadeaway three from 23 feet missed with five seconds left.

McMahon led all reserves with a career-high 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting, and she scored 10 of them in the fourth quarter. The rookie also had 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1 block. She is the seventh rookie reserve in Mystics history with multiple 15-point games off the bench.

Six Washington players reached double figures, tying a franchise record the Mystics last matched in a July 22 win over the Las Vegas Aces. Citron and Georgia Amoore each scored 12, Kiki Iriafen added 11, and Onyenwere had 10. Amoore tied her career high with four made threes on six attempts and handed out 5 assists.

Dallas shot 5-of-19 in the fourth quarter and missed all six of its three-point attempts. The Wings scored 12 points in the period after scoring 80 in the first 28 minutes. Over the second half, Dallas went 13-of-37 for 35.1%.

Smith said the answer has to be a decision the group makes on the floor.

“Yeah, I think we have to make a decision,” Smith said. “We’re either gonna answer by scoring more or answer by getting defensive stops.”

“That’s just something that we kind of have to look in the mirror and really set that goal for ourselves when teams go on runs, which they will,” Smith continued. “And so I think we’re gonna have to decide how we’re gonna answer them.”

Both teams shot 50%, with Dallas at 34-of-68 and Washington at 33-of-66. The Mystics went 22-of-26 from the free-throw line to the Wings’ 15-of-21. Washington won the paint 48-36, the bench scoring 24-8, and the boards 34-32. Dallas held the edge on the break, 18-7, and in second-chance points, 11-8.

Austin was asked what changed in the fourth quarter and pointed at the shots themselves.

“I mean, honestly, they just weren’t hitting shots,” Austin said. “Like, they kinda had some good looks, same looks they were hitting in the first half.”

“I think we just had a good look on our side,” Austin continued. “We finished with not letting them get O boards too. I know sometimes we’re in a zone, and they were allowed to get those second-chance opportunities. So we’re obviously giving credit to our defense. But we just had to go out there and just want it, and I think it showed.”

Paige Bueckers And Alanna Smith On The Second-Half Pace

Of Dallas’ 18 fast-break points, 14 came before halftime. The Wings had 9 in the first quarter alone and scored 31 points in the period, a season high for an opening quarter.

“It looked like they put an emphasis in the second half on stopping our transition,” Bueckers said. “And that came with also we played better defensively in the first half, so we got stops and were able to get out.”

Washington scored 30 of its 52 second-half points in the paint. Fernandez traced those baskets to the point of attack rather than to post-ups.

“No, just look at the downhill drives,” Fernandez said. “Look at the transition baskets where they got out, and the points in the paint can be a little misleading where it’s not all post touches, right? Points in the paint came from a lot of elbow entries.”

“They drove it at us,” Fernandez continued. “Also, elbow entries, we fouled. They went to the free-throw line. In transition, we didn’t stop the point of attack and contain it, and they got to the rim.”

Dallas held Washington to 16 points in the second quarter. Smith said the group carried its film work from the first meeting into that stretch.

“Yeah, I mean, I think we tried to learn from the first game that we played against them, and I think we applied what we looked at in film and in practice really, really well,” Smith explained.

“Then in that second half they just got really, really aggressive,” Smith continued. “And I think for us it was just maybe a combination of fatigue and fouling and not being able to close out that third quarter. I think that was a big momentum change for them.”

Bueckers finished with 17 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks in 37 minutes on 6-of-15 shooting. She has played more than 33 minutes in three of the four games since the All-Star break. Citron logged 36:32 on Wednesday, and Austin played 36:07.

Azzi Fudd scored 9 points on 2-of-8 shooting and did not score after halftime. She picked up five fouls in 34 minutes. Dallas got 5 points from Awak Kuier and 3 from Aziaha James off the bench. Alysha Clark was out with a back injury.

This was the third time in four games that Dallas has surrendered a double-digit lead in a loss. Dallas fell 99-98 in overtime to the New York Liberty on July 20 without Bueckers, then gave back a 15-point lead in an 82-81 defeat to Atlanta on July 29.

“I think they’re all different,” Fernandez said. “I think physicality has bothered us throughout the year, either post play or perimeter-wise, and we gotta get through that in regards to interior rebounding and playing through physicality with people guarding us.”

“You know, the Liberty game and the Atlanta game, two different things that swung those, right?” Fernandez continued. “They made a good challenge and won that challenge where, you know, Arike shoots those two free throws, it’s a one-possession game. But three totally different games.”

Up Next For The Dallas Wings

Washington also beat Dallas 81-75 on July 31 at CareFirst Arena. The Wings won the first meeting 92-69 in Arlington on May 18.

Dallas returns home to host the Golden State Valkyries on Friday at 8:30 p.m. CT at American Airlines Center, with the game airing nationally on ION. It is the Wings’ first game at the arena since the team announced Monday that it will play its full 2027 home schedule there. Washington stays home to face Atlanta on Friday.