Delle Donne's 25 points, 11 rebounds lead Mystics by Wings
WASHINGTON (AP) - Elena Delle Donne had 25 points and 11 rebounds, Emma Meesseman added 16 points and 10 boards, and the Washington Mystics beat the Dallas Wings 86-76 on Wednesday night in the first round of the playoffs.
Washington opened the second half on a 21-7 spurt, with eight points by Delle Donne, to take a 55-41 lead. But Dallas went on a 9-0 run in the fourth, capped by Skylar Diggins-Smith's fast-break layup, to pull to 71-67 with 3:13 left.
Washington's Tierra Ruffin-Pratt missed two free throws with 43.2 seconds left, but Krystal Thomas hustled to the offensive rebound. Delle Donne was fouled and put the Mystics ahead by six at the 38.7 mark. The Mystics went 7 of 8 from the line the rest of the way to seal it.
Thomas added a franchise playoff record 17 rebounds for Washington (19-16), which had lost both its home games this season to Dallas. The Mystics await the outcome of the Seattle-Phoenix game later Wednesday night to learn their next opponent.
Aerial Powers scored 21 points for Dallas (16-19) before being ejected with 1:11 to play by picking up a second technical foul. Glory Johnson added 15 points and 14 rebounds, and Diggins-Smith was held to 15 points on 6-of-18 shooting.
Powers capped Dallas' 13-0 run to close the first half with a steal and fast-break layup to tie it at 34.