Before Friday night, the Washington Mystics hadn’t won six games in a row since their championship season in 2019. And down the stretch against the Atlanta Dream, it looked like they might not get there.
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With 32 seconds left and a 16-point lead cut to three, Coach Sydney Johnson called a timeout. The Mystics’ three best players each had an opportunity for a dagger, and after Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen passed up a shot, it fell to Shakira Austin, who finished over two defenders with 9.7 seconds to go and sealed a 79-74 victory at CareFirst Arena.
“We had an idea of what we wanted to execute. We came off and didn’t get that first or second look. Frankly, sometimes when that happens, it comes down to the fundamentals. Not necessarily making a play on your own, but making a play together,” Johnson said. “… Kira made a big-time play, but I think as a group, to go beyond the first and second look and to make something happen together, that is also a mark of this team growing in these big moments.”
The Mystics (18-12) moved up to seventh place in the league, percentage points ahead of the New York Liberty and six games above the ninth-place Los Angeles Sparks. With each game, their first playoff berth since 2023 appears more likely.
Friday’s game pitted strength against strength: Atlanta came in leading the league in both offensive and defensive rebounding rate, with Washington second in both categories. When the buzzer sounded, the Mystics had a 46-40 advantage on the glass, led by 11 rebounds apiece from Austin and Lauren Betts, who set a career high.
Washington also set a franchise record by blocking 12 shots. Austin led the way with five, tying a career high.
“We’re just athletic, so I think we just timed it right and defended without fouling,” Austin said of the blocks.
The Dream, which came in No. 4 in the league standings, led for the first 2 minutes and 31 seconds. Once Washington pulled in front with a 13-0 run, it never trailed again.
The team’s three-headed monster led the way — Austin scored 21 points, Iriafen had 15 and Citron 14 — but contributions from up and down the bench helped the Mystics throughout the game.
Cotie McMahon — who was apparently left off the Dallas Wings’ scouting report earlier this week, then went for 18 points off the bench in the Mystics’ dramatic comeback win — made three baskets in the final 2:20 of the first half, each one drawing a more emphatic celebration than the last.
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McMahon followed a pull-up jumper with a three from a couple of feet beyond the arc before finishing her quarter with a driving layup with just seven seconds left. She finished the game with 11 points, while fellow rookie Cassandre Prosper had a career-high 10.
“We’re just finding different ways. Understanding the game, understanding each other, the chemistry that we have,” Johnson said. “I’ll just keep going back to our player development, where individually they’re able to get better, and so then it allows us to get better as a team. And then, we can put an effort like this evening together.”
The intimate confines of CareFirst Arena reflect the Mystics’ energy back to them from every corner. At other times this year, and certainly in previous seasons while attempting to rebuild, Washington’s stretches of success were often considered the beginners’ luck-style runs that can come from a team that doesn’t know it isn’t supposed to be any good.
These wins, now, are more emblematic of a team that knows exactly what it’s doing. There will undoubtedly be difficult stretches to come before the end of the season, as expected for any team and particularly one as young as the Mystics.
But Washington isn’t, at this point in the year, winning games through naive confidence and ignorance of the challenge. Stacking up six wins in a row while playing some of the top teams in the WNBA doesn’t seem like the work of a fluky, inexperienced group.
In the fourth quarter, after Rhyne Howard hit a three-pointer to cut the Dream’s deficit lead to seven, a timeout by Washington presented a key moment.
The Mystics responded with a driving layup from Austin, and after a missed three from Jordin Canada at the other end, floor, another bucket from Austin made it an 11-point game.
The final seconds brought another test of the Mystics’ mettle, but thanks to Austin, the team passed again, and a sixth straight victory was in the books.
“Finding different ways to win is a mark of an ascending team. An ascending, growing team,” Johnson said. “It’s very clear.”
