Lynx vs. Mystics: Natasha Howard, Olivia Miles Erase a 12-Point Deficit as Minnesota Wins 78-76

With seven minutes to play on Wednesday night, the Minnesota Lynx were down 65-53, fresh off a third quarter in which they had made 3 of 16 shots, and staring at a second loss to the same team in four days. Then Olivia Miles started pulling up from wherever she felt like it, and Natasha Howard decided every important possession in Washington belonged to her.

Howard finished with 21 points and a season-high 15 rebounds, Miles scored 10 of her 21 in the fourth, and the Lynx walked out of CareFirst Arena with a 78-76 win over the Washington Mystics that made very little sense for about 33 minutes.

Thirty-Three Bad Minutes, Seven Great Ones

Washington held the upper hand most of the night, leading for 74 percent of the game. An 8-0 run late in the first turned a 17-14 deficit into a 22-17 lead, and the Mystics carried a 24-19 edge into the second. Kayla McBride kept Minnesota close almost by herself, hitting four 3s before halftime, the last of them with 1.1 seconds on the clock to knot things at 40.

Then came a third quarter you'd like to erase from the hard drive. The Lynx scored 10 points. Washington scored 18, took a 58-50 lead into the fourth and eventually pushed the margin to 12.

The comeback started small. It was 71-64 at the 4:51 mark, and then Minnesota ripped off nine straight. McBride hit from 8 feet. Howard floated one in from 5. Miles stepped back from 15 with 3:32 left to make it 71-70. Washington called timeout, came out of it and coughed up a shot-clock violation, and Miles found Howard all alone for a layup and a 72-71 lead.

Sonia Citron wasn't finished, though. Her 25-foot step-back with 2:01 left put the Mystics back in front, 74-73. Howard answered with two free throws, and then Miles delivered the shot of the night, a 23-foot step-back of her own with 1:07 remaining for a 78-74 lead. Washington's last two points both came at the foul line, the final one with 0.3 seconds left, and that was the whole story.

Howard Did the Dirty Work, Miles Did the Damage

Howard's 21-and-15 is the headline number, but the timing is the real story. She scored seven of her team's points in the final 4:01, went 7-of-8 at the line on the night and logged 36 minutes while finishing with five fouls. Miles needed 18 shots to get to 21 and went only 1-of-6 from deep, which is exactly why the one make landed so hard. She also got to the line 12 times, hit eight and dished five assists, two of them to Howard during the surge. McBride provided the other pillar: 19 points, five 3s and six rebounds in 38 minutes.

On the other bench, Citron was often the best player on the floor. She scored 28 on 9-of-14 shooting, went 4-of-5 from 3 and made all six of her free throws. The Mystics say she also became the fastest player in franchise history to reach 100 career 3-pointers, getting there in 59 games. Kiki Iriafen added 13 points and 11 rebounds for her fifth double-double this season, while Shakira Austin grabbed a career-high 16 boards with 11 points, though it took her 15 shots to get them.

The rest of the Washington rotation couldn't add much. Michaela Onyenwere finished with two points in 23 minutes, Georgia Amoore had six on four shots, and Cotie McMahon scored seven in 29 minutes. Lauren Betts added four in 16 minutes off the bench. Citron had carried plenty on her own all night, but she made only one basket in the final 4:51, and the rest of the Mystics managed just two free throws after her last 3 fell.

The Possession Nobody Will Put on a Poster

Forget the step-backs for a second. The trip that flipped this game came right after that Mystics timeout, with Washington clinging to a one-point lead and the crowd still on its side. Coming out of a stoppage, a team should at least get a decent look. Instead the shot clock ran out, and the ball went back to a Minnesota team that had just made three straight baskets.

The very next possession produced the go-ahead layup, the Lynx's first lead since 17-16 in the first quarter. In roughly four minutes, a 12-point cushion had gone up in smoke. Shot-clock violations don't make highlight reels, but this one deserves a frame.

Stats That Matter

• 10, then 28: Minnesota's third-quarter and fourth-quarter point totals. Same team, same night, different planet.
• 8-of-30 vs. 5-of-16: The Lynx missed a pile of 3s, but the volume still produced a nine-point edge from deep.
• 6-2: Minnesota's edge in blocks, with six different players getting one apiece.
• 40-37: Washington's rebounding advantage, one of several categories it won in defeat, along with 16-13 in points off turnovers.
• 78: The Lynx's lowest point total of the season, as the Mystics noted, and they still won.

What It Means

Minnesota is 14-4 and a ridiculous 8-1 on the road. The win also squares things after Washington's 84-79 victory in Minneapolis on Sunday, and it leaves Cheryl Reeve at 378 career wins, one behind Mike Thibault for the most in WNBA history. The Lynx visit Dallas on Sunday.

Washington's three-game winning streak is over, and the Mystics sit at 8-8 overall and just 2-4 at home. All three of those wins came on the road, which makes this one sting more. On Pride Night in front of 4,200 fans, they had a double-digit lead with seven minutes left. They're back at it Friday at Connecticut.

The Sixth Sense of Road Wins

For 33 minutes, this looked like a simple story about the Mystics owning the Lynx for a week. Then you get to the end and realize Minnesota was alive the whole time, and that the clues were there all along: the 8-1 road record, Howard running everything down the stretch, the coach sitting one win behind the all-time leader. Go back and watch it again. It holds up.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details as reported by the Associated Press and the Washington Mystics.