Sky vs. Mystics final score: Washington doesn't lose matinee, 72-65

The Washington Mystics (8-12) did not lose the Chicago Sky (8-11), 72 to 65 in a matinee game. This also gets them to 1-1 in their current stretch of five consecutive road games.

So why do I say that the Mystics "didn't lose" the game as opposed to winning it? It is because the ending of this game was downright ugly. No one deserved to win in my opinion.

After Emma Meesseman made a jumpshot to make the score 70-58, the Mystics allowed the Sky to go on a 7-0 run. But here's the really strange part. Five of Chicago's seven points in that run were made at the free throw line, which also showed that they were aggressive trying to make something happen despite shooting 1-of-9 from the field from Meesseman's last shot to the end of the game. The Mystics on the other hand made no attempts at the free throw line until there were 15 seconds left on the clock, and the outcome of the game was sealed. They missed all six of their shots.

And thank god the game ended then.

Now that I finished stating the negative points, what did the Mystics do right? After all, Washington did get something in the win column.

The main key for the Mystics was ball movement where they had 19 assists out of their 23 made field goals for the game. This is in spite of their otherwise bad shooting night (36.5% overall) from a number of their wing and perimeter players. Bria Hartley led the Mystics' scorers with 16 points on 4-of-8 shooting, three of those shots coming from three pointers, and five more free throws.  Kia Vaughn had a very efficient night scoring the basketball with C points, while Meesseman had another double double with 12 points, 12 rebounds, and five assists.

The other main key in the game was that the Mystics made their three pointers at a decent, though not a great rate. The inefficiency from the three point line has been a woe for them all season. Washington made 6-of-20 attempts, or 30% of them. Chicago only made 1-of-8 from three. The Mystics' next game will be this Saturday at Tulsa where they will play against Skylar Diggins and the Tulsa Shock which has the second best offensive rating in the league.

For the Sky, Sylvia Fowles led their scorers with 19 points, 17 rebounds, and five blocks off the bench. Tamera Young also added 11 more rebounds and scored 7 points. Their next game is this Friday against the red-hot Phoenix Mercury.