Recaps: Mystics, Dream and Lynx win on Thursday

Here are the results from Thursday’s WNBA games.

Delle Donne leads Mystics in 100-77 rout over the Storm

Elena Delle Donne scored 30 points on 11-of-16 shooting to lead the Mystics to a big win over the Storm. In addition, LaToya Sanders scored 17 points while making all six of her shot attempts and she grabbed 12 rebounds for a double-double. Washington shot 57.6 percent from the field while holding Seattle to just 39.7 percent shooting for the day.

The Storm may have lost this game, but they are still in good hands. Barring a total collapse, they will likely finish as the WNBA’s best regular season team. As for the Mystics, they are still in good position to grab second seed, especially if the Atlanta Dream get on a losing streak to end the year.

Dream edge the Sparks after Breland’s big night, 79-73

The Sparks started this game leading 17-13 after the first quarter, but from then on, the Dream were in control for the rest of this game as Jessica Breland scored 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting while Nneka Ogwumike was held to single-digit scoring (7 points) and Candace Parker had to shoot the ball 20 times for her 20 points. Parker shot 8-of-20 from the field, which isn’t bad, but not great.

The Dream were without Angel McCoughtry, who will sit out the rest of the season due to a knee injury in the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s game against the Aces. Considering that McCoughtry was out and Tiffany Hayes didn’t have a particularly great performance, this was a character win for the Dream, who are still in great position to secure top-two seeding in the WNBA Playoffs.

Maya Moore leads Lynx to 89-73 win over the Aces

The Lynx blew out the Aces on Thursday evening in Las Vegas in a game where Minnesota was in control from start to finish. Maya Moore had a sensational performance, scoring 34 points on 12-of-19 shooting while Sylvia Fowles grabbed 19 rebounds along with 10 points. What’s even more telling about Minnesota’s dominance is that Lindsay Whalen and Rebekkah Brunson didn’t play in this game.

For Las Vegas, Tamera Young had the best performance, scoring 16 points on 6-of-13 shooting. A’ja Wilson did score 18 points, but 10 of them came from free throws and she shot just 4-of-16 for the night. Though Las Vegas is still technically in contention for a playoff spot, time is running out. They are 2.5 games behind the slumping Dallas Wings for the eighth spot and have just four games left in their season. They will have to win out and get help from other teams to sneak in the postseason.

Playoff standings update

The Storm, Dream and Mystics remain first, second and third in the WNBA standings. The Sparks, Sun, Lynx and Mercury are the fourth through seventh seeds as of the moment.

The Wings and Aces are still fighting for the eighth seed but both teams are in the middle of long losing streaks. Will one of them turn things around before the playoffs start?