Tiffany Mitchell’s layup with three seconds remaining helped the Minnesota Lynx defeat the Washington Mystics 80-78 on Sunday night, giving Minnesota its first win of the season.
The game came down to the wire as the Lynx and Mystics were deadlocked at 78-78 with 7.4 seconds left in regulation. Napheesa Collier inbounded the ball from the sideline for the Lynx and found Mitchell, who drove the baseline and missed her initial shot but grabbed her own rebound for the game-winning bucket.
TIFFANY MITCHELL SEALS THE DEAL. pic.twitter.com/IywRmKcrVI
— Nekias (Nuh-KY-us) Duncan (@NekiasNBA) June 4, 2023
The win relieved some tension for the Lynx, who went on runs of 25-11 and 18-3 to close out the second and third quarters, entered the fourth quarter with a 61-51 lead and went on a 6-0 run late in the fourth quarter to take a 77-71 lead with 54 seconds left.
But he Lynx made things interesting, turning the ball over three straight times to allow the Mystics to tie the game before Mitchell’s bucket helped them snap a season-opening six-game losing streak.
Kayla McBride scored a team-high 24 points and grabbed five rebounds for the Lynx while Collier had 17 points and nine rebounds and Mitchell scored 10 points in the win.
The Lynx (1-6) will now look to build their first winning streak of the season when they travel to face the New York Liberty on Wednesday night.
