Mystics vs. Dream: Shakira Austin Leads Franchise-Record 12-Block Night as Washington Wins Sixth Straight

Nine blocks in a half. Let that sit for a second. The Atlanta Dream spent the first 20 minutes on Friday night at CareFirst Arena finding out the rim had been rezoned, and the Washington Mystics, who had never swatted that many shots in any half in franchise history, were not done.

Shakira Austin finished with 21 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks, Washington piled up a franchise-record 12 blocks, and the Mystics held on 79-74 for their sixth straight win. They needed every bit of it, because a 16-point fourth-quarter lead shrank to three in the final minute, largely thanks to a free-throw display that should come with a parental advisory.

Sixteen Up, Then a Very Long Fourth

Atlanta scored first, and that was about the end of the good news for a while. Washington answered a 3-0 start with 13 unanswered points, and 19-13 after one became 42-30 at the half after an 8-0 Mystics burst late in the second. The Dream could not find a clean look anywhere near the basket. The third quarter was more of the same, and it was 62-46 going to the fourth, then 64-48 early in the period.

Atlanta scored 28 in the fourth, and a lot of that came at the line as the game turned into a whistle-fest. Washington still led 73-62 with 4:23 left. Then Jordin Canada, Angel Reese, Rhyne Howard and Canada again all got to the stripe, and Brionna Jones' layup with 1:54 left made it 74-69.

This is where the Mystics nearly gave themselves a heart attack. Lauren Betts, Kiki Iriafen and Sonia Citron all went to the line in a span of 38 seconds, and each made only one of two. Reese hit both of hers with 47.6 seconds left, Allisha Gray drove in for a layup with 32.3 to go, and suddenly it was 77-74 in a game that had looked like a blowout not long before.

Washington's last possession was not pretty, and it did not have to be. Austin took a pass from Iriafen and flipped up a contested 3-foot floater, the ball took a friendly roll, and with 9.7 seconds left it dropped through for the final margin.

Austin Keeps Stacking Absurd Nights

Austin shot 7 of 11 and 6 of 8 at the line, a pair of numbers that made her a minor miracle on a night her team went 44 percent at the stripe. She also had six turnovers and five fouls, because nothing about this game was going to be tidy. The team has her at three straight games of 20-plus points and 10-plus rebounds, her longest such run, and those five blocks both tied her career high and lifted her into a share of fourth on the franchise's all-time list.

The bench did a lot of the heavy lifting around her. Betts, a rookie, pulled down 11 rebounds for a career high and blocked three shots in 21 minutes. Cassandre Prosper set a career high with 10 points and blocked two shots, per the team. Iriafen had 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists, Citron scored 14, and rookie Cotie McMahon added 11 even on 4-of-13 shooting. That was enough to cover for Michaela Onyenwere and Georgia Amoore combining to go 0 of 7 for no points.

Gray was the best thing about Atlanta's night, scoring 26 on 11-of-23 shooting for her 15th game of 20-plus this season, according to the AP. Howard added 19 and three blocks despite playing the entire fourth quarter with five fouls, and she finished with six. Reese was a walking contradiction, hauling in 16 rebounds, seven of them offensive, while going 1 of 12 from the field for seven points. Canada had nine points and seven assists but also five turnovers.

Thirteen Straight Set the Terms

The fourth quarter got the drama, but the game was shaped much earlier. That 13-0 run in the first took a Dream team that had just gone up 3-0 and left it staring at a 10-point hole before the quarter was half over. From then on, Atlanta was shooting over a defense that had already gotten into its head, and the numbers got ugly fast. A team that came in with 19 wins took 77 shots and made 25 of them. That first-quarter stretch is the reason the Mystics had enough of a cushion to survive their own free throws at the end.

Stats That Matter

• Blocks: Washington 12, Atlanta 7. Per the team, no WNBA team had blocked more in a game this season.
• Free throws: Washington 15 of 34. Atlanta 18 of 27.
• Atlanta's shooting: 25 of 77, or 32.5 percent, a season worst according to the AP.
• Rebounds: Washington 46, Atlanta 40, even with the Dream grabbing 14 offensive boards.
• Fourth quarter: Atlanta 28, Washington 17.

The Streak, the Series and a Dream Slump

Washington is 18-12 overall and 10-6 at home. No team in the WNBA has a longer active winning streak, per the Mystics, and six in a row ties the franchise's second-longest single-season streak. The Mystics are also 4-0 since the All-Star break and locked up the season series with Atlanta, a first since 2022, per the team. Washington Wizards teammates Bilal Coulibaly and Kyshawn George were courtside to see all of it, and they got their money's worth. Phoenix comes to town on Sunday.

Atlanta fell to 19-12 and 8-7 on the road. The Dream have gone loss, win, loss since a five-game winning streak ended, with a 109-87 defeat against Las Vegas and a 96-82 win over Phoenix before this one. They play at Toronto on Monday.

Jenga Night in D.C.

For three quarters, Washington spent the evening stacking blocks. For the last 10 minutes, it played Jenga with them, pulling out one missed free throw after another while the entire tower leaned and the Dream reached for the table. It wobbled. It wobbled a lot. Then Austin's floater took its friendly roll and the whole thing somehow stayed standing, which is more or less how you know a six-game winning streak is real.

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