ATLANTA – Katie Smith had 18 points and the Washington Mystics came from behind to beat the Atlanta Dream 86-78 on Tuesday night.
Matee Ajavon scored 10 of her 14 points in the fourth quarter while the Mystics used a 12-0 run in the fourth quarter to take the lead.
"Katie did a great job running the point for us, she's been in different roles for us, and I thought Ajavon coming off the bench for us was huge," Plank said.
The victory moved the Mystics (16-10) into a second-place tie with Indiana and to within a game of first-place Atlanta (18-10) in the WNBA's Eastern Conference.
Lindsey Harding scored 16 points for Washington before leaving midway in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury, and Crystal Langhorne had with 15 points and 12 rebounds.
"With Lindsey going down, everybody else had to step it up," Ajavon said. "We had to win the war and get the W. Every game counts."
Angel McCoughtry scored 30 points for Atlanta, which had its four-game winning streak snapped. The Dream led 64-58 with less than six minutes to play.
"It would have helped if we had this one," McCougthry said. "There is nothing that we can go back and do now. We just have to move on."
Atlanta hit seven of its first nine shots in the third quarter to tie the game at 46 and led 57-56 going into the final quarter despite Harding's follow shot at the buzzer.
Washington led 34-24 after an 8-2 run in the second quarter and was up 39-31 at halftime.
The Dream and Mystics close the regular season against each other in Atlanta on Aug. 23.
"It's a close race in this conference," Atlanta coach Marynell Meadors said. "We are always looking back over our shoulder because the East has been so tough and so close."
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