Published November 20, 2014
WASHINGTON (AP) — Katie Smith scored five of her season-high 17 points in overtime as the Washington Mystics rallied for a 65-61 victory over the Chicago Sky on Saturday night.
Nakia Sanford scored 11 points and Matee Ajavon added 10 for the Mystics (7-4), who matched a season high with their third straight win. Washington rallied from 13 points down in the first half and scored the final four points of regulation to tie the score.
Sylvia Fowles scored 17 points and Jia Perkins and rookie Epiphanny Prince added 10 each for the Sky (4-8), who have lost four straight for the second time this season. Chicago opened the season with four losses, then won four in a row before their current skid.
Crystal Langhorne's putback gave the Mystics the lead for good in overtime and Lindsey Harding made two free throws to put them up 59-55 with 3:19 to go. Smith hit a jumper with the shot clock winding down and then made a deep 3 from the right wing to increase Washington's lead to 64-59 with 40.9 seconds left.
Both teams committed turnovers in the final minute of regulation with the Sky holding a 52-50 lead. Ajavon knocked the ball away from Fowles near half court and raced in for the tying basket with 15.8 seconds left. Perkins them missed a potential winning 3-point shot with 1 second left.
Mystics leading scorer Monique Currie finished with six points — nearly 12 below her average coming in — as Washington matched its season-low scoring total.
After Erin Thorn's 3 gave Chicago a 40-29 lead with under 4 minutes left in the third, the Mystics scored the next 13 points to take a two-point lead on Currie's layup 18 seconds into the fourth quarter.
Eight days earlier, the Mystics had season-highs in scoring (95) and field-goal shooting (61.7 percent) in a 17-point win at Chicago. Playing for the first time in a week in the rematch, Washington was sluggish from the start, scoring only nine points in the first quarter on the way to a season-low scoring total in the first half as the Sky led 32-20 at the break.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/smith-helps-mystics-rally-past-sky-65-61-in-ot