The Shock made just three field goals in the third quarter, allowing the Mystics to pull away to a 76-69 win Tuesday afternoon.
Tulsa (10-8) and Washington (9-6) had 10 lead changes and eight ties throughout the first half, the biggest lead coming at just five points, before the Shock's shooting woes changed the game as the team went just 21 percent in the third quarter.
"We had 70 attempts at the basket and made 23 so, I can't as a coach ask for anything more," Shock head coach Fred Williams said. "We had 22 offensive boards, and when you look at that you say, wow, we had a dominant game. We concentrated on getting the ball inside, which we did.
"We just came out empty on a lot of no-call situations. We just have to play through it and keep moving forward."
Despite a rough third quarter offensively, the Shock pulled within 70-67 with just over a minute left to play on a Karima Christmas 3-pointer.
In back-to-back plays, Emma Meesseman scored a layup for the Mystics, and Kara Lawson came up with a steal, resulting in a trip to the free-throw line. Her two free throws put the Mystics up 74-67 with 21 seconds remaining.
It was the Tulsa rebounding that brought them back and gave them a shot to win. The Shock outrebounded the Mystics 48-24.
"They're a tough team because their guards are quick, so our posts have to help, and then we get stuck in rotation and then our guards are stuck boxing their bigs out. Then they get a lot of offensive rebounds that way," Stefanie Dolson, who finished with 18 points, said. "They're a tough team, they're physical and they're big. We just had to lock in on defense and execute on offense. I thought we did a pretty good job defensively; our boards weren't our best, but we were able to pull it out."
Center Courtney Paris tied her career and season high in rebounding with 19. Forward Vicki Baugh came up big for the Shock off the bench, tying her season in rebounds and in scoring with eight each.
Washington head coach attributed his team's third win in a row to their disruptive defense.
"The biggest thing was our initial defense half court was really good, and they just got a ton of attempts, which they do against a lot of teams. They average about seven more field goal attempts a night than their opponents," he said. "They take 73 shots, that's 17 more shots than us, but they end up shooting 32 percent because I thought we were good defensively. This was just one of those ones you just grind out, and to hold them under 70 was huge for us."
However, for the Shock, it was their fourth loss in a row.
"We're in all the games and getting the opportunity to win them all, some of them we should win, but it's just those little things, little mishaps we have keeping us from pulling out with the win," Paris said. "But we're fine, we just have to stay positive, that's the biggest thing and move forward."
Plenette Pierson said the upcoming all-star break will be a chance for Tulsa to take a mental break and come back "refocused and re-energized."