Sun vs. Mystics: Leila Lacan Closes Out Washington as Connecticut Wins Back-to-Back for First Time All Year

Washington had already done the hard part. Down 52-40 late in the third quarter, the Mystics ripped off 13 straight points, grabbed a 53-52 lead with 7:21 left and had Mohegan Sun Arena doing the nervous shuffle you'd expect from a building watching a 3-15 team try to protect anything.

Then Connecticut did something it hadn't done all season. The Sun closed on a 16-4 run, turned the final minute into a Leila Lacan highlight package and beat the Mystics 68-57 on Friday night. That's back-to-back wins for the first time all year, which for this team qualifies as a heat wave.

Everybody Gets a Run

This game had the rhythm of siblings passing a video game controller. Shakira Austin scored Washington's first five points, and the Mystics led 9-4 before the Sun answered with eight straight. Washington replied with an 8-0 run of its own that spilled into the second quarter, capped by a 26-foot Georgia Amoore 3 for a 17-12 lead.

Connecticut's turn. Kennedy Burke made two free throws and a 27-footer, Aaliyah Edwards tipped one in, and Raegan Beers came off the bench to finish a 10-0 run that made it 26-19. The Sun took a 30-26 lead into halftime, with Lacan already at six points.

The third quarter looked like it might be the final word. Brittney Griner opened it with consecutive buckets, Olivia Nelson-Ododa scored six in the frame, and Edwards' drive with 1:55 left made it 52-40, Connecticut's biggest lead of the night.

Then the Sun stopped scoring for nearly five minutes. Sonia Citron went to the line twice, Amoore hit a 24-footer, Cotie McMahon made two free throws, Lauren Betts cut for a layup and Michaela Onyenwere's drive put Washington in front. A 12-point hole had vanished, and the visitors had the look of a team about to steal one on a night when their own offense had barely shown up. Washington shot 35 percent from the field, 19-of-55, and it still had the lead with seven minutes to go, which says plenty about how much work its offensive rebounders were doing.

Five in Double Figures, One Glaring Number

Lacan's line gets better the longer you stare at it: 12 points, five assists, four steals, 4-for-4 at the line. Nelson-Ododa matched her 12, added nine rebounds, three assists and three blocks, and fed both of the baskets that answered Washington's lead. Burke gave Connecticut 11 off the bench on 3-of-5 from deep. Griner (10 points in 21 minutes, five fouls) and Charlisse Leger-Walker (10 points, five assists, three steals, no turnovers) rounded out five Sun players in double figures. Associate head coach Roneeka Hodges ran the bench in place of Rachid Meziane, and she got the balanced night any coach would sketch up.

Amoore led all scorers with 14 for Washington, hitting four 3s. Citron had a strange 11, going 2-of-10 from the field and 7-of-7 at the line. Kiki Iriafen was a menace on the glass with 11 points and 14 rebounds. Austin grabbed 12 boards of her own, but her seven turnovers were the most in the building, and she finished minus-21. Lauren Betts, meanwhile, went plus-10 in 17 minutes off the bench, the best number on the team by a wide margin.

Eighteen Seconds of Happiness

Washington's lead lasted 18 seconds. Griner dropped in a turnaround hook off a Nelson-Ododa feed at 7:03, Leger-Walker cut for a layup off another Nelson-Ododa pass, and then she drilled a 3 on a Lacan assist at 5:20 for a 59-53 lead. Nelson-Ododa's hook and Burke's 25-foot running 3 stretched it to 64-55 with 3:25 to go.

The Mystics still had a sliver of life at 64-57 with 1:15 left. Lacan ended that. She made two free throws at 1:06, and Washington called time to draw something up. What followed was a disaster in three acts: Austin's pass got picked off by Lacan, Amoore's pass got picked off by Lacan, who raced in for a running layup with 32 seconds left, and Citron's pass got swiped by Burke. Three turnovers in 31 seconds, each one more painful to watch than the last.

The Numbers That Explain It

• Turnovers: Washington committed 22 to Connecticut's 10, and the Sun turned them into 22 points. The Mystics scored five off Connecticut's giveaways.
• Steals: The Sun had 12. The Mystics had three.
• The paint and the break: Connecticut won the paint 40-24 and the fast-break column 13-0.
• The glass: Washington dominated it 45-27, with 12 offensive rebounds, and lost by 11 anyway.
• The line: The Mystics shot 14-of-25 on free throws, or 56 percent, which is how you turn a comeback into a could-have-been.

Still 4-15, but Feeling Itself

The Sun are 4-15 overall and 3-7 at home, but they've now won two in a row, starting with Monday's 92-63 demolition of Chicago, after a seven-game losing streak. They also evened the season series at one game apiece after Washington won 88-81 on this same floor on June 17. Team notes say Washington's 57 points were its lowest total of the season, and a walk through the Mystics' schedule backs that up.

Washington drops to 8-9 and 6-5 on the road. This second straight loss comes right after a three-game winning streak, so the Mystics are officially a team with mood swings. They host Portland on Sunday. Connecticut hosts Dallas on Thursday.

Somebody Else's Bad Friday

Nobody in Uncasville is booking a parade route for a team with four wins in 19 games. But the Sun have spent seven weeks serving as everybody's scheduled night off, and getting to ruin someone else's Friday has its own charm, especially when the method is letting a lead evaporate and then calmly taking the game back. Consider it the first sunny forecast of the summer. Eighteen assists against 10 turnovers is how a bad team starts looking like a competent one, at least for a night. Just don't ask for the extended outlook.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Additional details from the Associated Press and the Connecticut Sun.