Mystics vs. Mercury: Georgia Amoore's Career-High 25 Powers Washington Comeback in 80-73 Win

Georgia Amoore had never scored more than 14 points in a WNBA game. With 8:17 left on Thursday night in Phoenix, her team was down 10, and the best scoring night of her career was about to arrive all at once.

Sixteen of Amoore's career-high 25 points came in the fourth quarter, she finished with a career-high six 3-pointers, and the Washington Mystics stormed back from a 63-53 hole to beat the Phoenix Mercury 80-73 at Mortgage Matchup Center. Kiki Iriafen's 20 points and 12 rebounds gave her a 19th double-double this season, and Washington won its third straight game.

Kahleah Copper carried Phoenix with 35 points on 13-of-22 shooting and became the fastest player in franchise history to reach 2,000 points with the Mercury, per the AP. It was not enough to stop a fourth consecutive loss.

A Game That Could Not Make Up Its Mind

The first quarter alone had enough swings for a full season of a prestige drama. Phoenix opened on a 10-0 run and led 15-2. Washington answered with 16 straight points, turning a 13-point hole into an 18-15 lead, and carried a 20-18 edge into the second quarter.

The next period followed the same script. An 11-0 Washington run stretched a 28-27 lead to 39-27, then Phoenix scored the next eight to make it 39-35. The Mystics took a 40-37 lead into halftime.

Phoenix finally grabbed control late in the third. With 2:06 left in the quarter, Lexi Held banked home a 3 while drawing contact and then made the free throw, giving the Mercury a 54-51 lead, their first since 15-13. Officials upgraded the foul to a Flagrant 1, which gave Held a shot at a seven-point possession, but her 3-point try on the extra trip came up short. Phoenix still went on a 9-0 run that started in the final minute of the third and spilled into the fourth, and it was 63-53 with 8:17 to play.

That is when the night belonged to Amoore. Washington scored eight straight to get within two, Phoenix briefly pushed it back to 65-61, and then the Mystics ran off nine more to take a 70-65 lead with 4:02 left.

The Mercury refused to fold. Noemie Brochant and Natasha Mack scored inside to make it 70-69, and Held's driving layup later cut it to 72-71. Then Amoore took the wheel for good, burying a 3-pointer with 1:49 left and another with 1:18 left, the second one pushing the lead to 78-73. Betnijah Laney-Hamilton iced it with two free throws at the 28.1-second mark.

Amoore's Breakout, Copper's Milestone

The context on Amoore's night is what makes it wild. Before Thursday, her career high was 14. She nearly doubled it. She went 9 of 16 from the field and 6 of 11 from deep, adding four assists and two steals, and she made the biggest shots of the game when Washington needed them. The rest of the Mystics went 1 of 6 from 3-point range.

Iriafen was the steady hand next to her, making 9 of 17 shots and grabbing four offensive rebounds. Per the team, she extended a career-best double-double streak to five consecutive games. Shakira Austin added 11 points and seven rebounds, going 5 of 5 at the line, and the Mystics say she has now reached double figures in points with five-plus rebounds for 21 straight games, a franchise-record run. Laney-Hamilton scored just six points but handed out a season-high seven assists, grabbed five rebounds and finished a team-best plus-18.

Copper was spectacular on the other side, going 7 of 9 at the line to go with her 13 field goals. The AP noted she reached 2,000 points with Phoenix in 103 games, one game quicker than both Diana Taurasi and Cappie Pondexter. Mack added 10 points, nine rebounds and four blocks, and Alyssa Thomas had four points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, but Copper had to carry almost everything else.

The Turning Point: The 17-2 Run

Down 63-53, Washington could have packed it in on a road trip with a Friday game looming in Los Angeles. Instead it scored 17 of the next 19 points, a stretch that erased the entire deficit and then some in under four and a half minutes. That run turned a game Phoenix appeared to have in hand into one the Mercury spent the rest of the night chasing. Everything Amoore did after that was closing the deal, but this was the moment the night flipped.

Stats That Matter

• 27-16 in the fourth quarter: Washington outscored Phoenix by 11 in the period that mattered most.
• 6 of 11 vs. 1 of 6: Amoore's 3-point shooting compared with the rest of her team's.
• 35-29 on the glass: The Mystics grabbed 29 defensive rebounds, limiting Phoenix's second chances.
• 44-38 in the paint: Washington won inside even with Mack's four blocks on the other end.
• 35 of 73: Copper scored nearly half of Phoenix's points.

What It Means

Washington improves to 24-15 (11-8 on the road). The win, paired with New York's earlier loss to Golden State, lifted the Mystics into sixth place, according to the AP. The Mystics have now won three straight and swept the season series from Phoenix 3-0, which the team says is their first series sweep over the Mercury since 2010. The Mystics also called this their 10th fourth-quarter comeback of the season.

Phoenix falls to 13-26 (5-14 at home) and has lost four in a row: Portland on Aug. 16, Atlanta on Aug. 22, Washington on Aug. 25 and Washington again here. The Mystics visit Los Angeles on Friday, and the Mercury host Toronto on Saturday.

Moonlight, Not La La Land

With 8:17 left, Phoenix was already halfway through its acceptance speech. Copper had her milestone, the crowd of 9,040 had a 10-point lead to enjoy, and a losing streak was about to end. Then Amoore walked on stage like that infamous Oscars night when La La Land was mid-speech and Moonlight turned out to be the real winner. There had been a mistake. The envelope said Washington.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Career-high and milestone notes as reported by the Associated Press; team notes from the Washington Mystics; streaks and season series recounted from 2026 results.