Mystics

The Sparks won a critical game Sunday, defeating the Washington Mystics 81-78 to keep their slim playoff hopes alive heading into the final two weeks of the regular season.

Washington hit a trio of three-pointers in the final minute, but Dearica Hamby‘s jumper in the paint and Kelsey Plum‘s two free throws in the final 20 seconds were enough to seal a Sparks win.

Hamby led the Sparks with 20 points and 12 rebounds, recording her 11th double-double of the season. Plum added 18 points, four rebounds and six assists. Rickea Jackson contributed 16 points and Azurá Stevens had 12 rebounds.

“Dearica was just a beast on the boards and finishing in traffic with those-and-ones,” Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said. “She’s just so strong and athletic,”

It was a critical win for a ninth-place Sparks team that is three wins behind the Indiana Fever for the final playoff spot.

The Sparks (18-20) likely will need to win a majority of their remaining games to have a chance at the postseason. Their final six-game slate includes two tests against Atlanta this week and games against Phoenix and Las Vegas to close the regular season.

They also need the Valkyries, Fever and Seattle Storm to lose. Golden State, which beat Indiana on Sunday night to move ahead of Seattle and into sixth, also owns the playoff tiebreaker after winning the season series against the Sparks.

The Sparks could help their cause with a road win over Seattle (22-19) on Monday night.

Before Sunday’s win, Roberts wanted to see better pacing from her team. She got that, along with better shot execution. Unfortunately, 13 turnovers allowed the Mystics to stay on the Sparks’ heels most of the game.

The Sparks came out strong in the first quarter, building a double-digit lead of 13 points.

Washington (16-25) responded in the second quarter and tied the game 24-24. Plum then split a pair of free throws to put the Sparks ahead and they pulled away to take a 40-31 lead by halftime.

The Sparks continued to stay ahead in the third quarter, but six points from Kiki Iriafen coupled with a Stefanie Dolson three-pointer gave Washington a 56-55 lead with 8:21 left. The Sparks retook the lead before a Sonia Citron three-pointer tied the score at 61-61 with 5:35 remaining.

Hamby then made a couple of free throws and scored on a two-foot layup to put the Sparks ahead for good.

Iriafren finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds, securing her 15th double-double of the season. Shakira Austin added 11 points and seven rebounds. Citron chipped in 12 points.

With some much at stake in days ahead, Stevens knows the Sparks can’t afford to lose their focus.

“We know the circumstances, but all we can control is the next possession.” Stevens said, “Just taking it day by day and really focusing on us, our defense, our rebounding, our pace on offense.”

Roberts also would like to see more from her players Monday night against Seattle.

“We’ve got to be better at putting teams away and not making it a close game, but we took care of business [tonight],” Roberts said.

WASHINGTON — Sonia Citron tied her career high with five three-pointers and finished with 24 points, Kiki Iriafen added 18 points and 10 rebounds and the Washington Mystics beat the Sparks 95-86 on Sunday.

Iriafen has 12 double-doubles this season and set a franchise rookie record for most games (six) with at least 15 points and 10-plus rebounds.

Shakira Austin had 14 points and Jade Melbourne, who fouled out with less than two minutes left, scored 11 for Washington (16-18).

Alysha Clark hit a three-pointer about 4½ minutes into the game that made it 12-9 and gave the Mystics the lead for good.

Dearica Hamby scored six straight points in an 8-0 Sparks run that cut the deficit to 82-79 with 6:25 to play before Citron answered with a jumper seven seconds later and her three-pointer with 4:12 remaining gave Washington a nine-point lead.

Hamby led the Sparks (16-18) with 26 points and seven assists, and Kelsey Plum added 25 points and six assists. Rickea Jackson scored 17 points and Rae Burrell 10.

The Mystics shot 59.3% (35 of 59) from the field and had 30 assists, both season highs. Washington hit 11 three-pointers and outrebounded the Sparks 35-15.

Citron has scored in double figures in 29 games this season, breaking the franchise’s previous rookie mar of 28, set by Chamique Holdsclaw in 1999.

Washington’s Jacy Sheldon (ankle) did not play.

The Mystics host Connecticut on Tuesday. The Sparks return home to play Dallas on Wednesday.

Dearica Hamby lined up for one of those last-second launches as the first-half clock dipped toward zero.

The ball clanged off the front rim, appearing short — until backspin carried it to the back iron for a second bounce.

With Julie Allemand holding her knees and Kelsey Plum already prancing away, the ball kissed the rim twice more. And, finally, after a two-second pause that held the whole arena hostage, the ball dropped. Hamby fell with it, her teammates swarming to lift her as Crypto.com Arena erupted for what was perhaps the Sparks’ finest half of basketball of the season in a 99-80 stomping of the Washington Mystics.

Hamby’s arena-triggering triple capped a solo 10-point scoring spree and a 20-minute performance where the ball zipped across the hardwood, the defense suffocated and every Spark had their fingerprints on a rout of the WNBA’s seventh-best team.

By the end of the first half alone, Hamby had piled up 18. Plum chipped in 14. Jackson poured in nine and Stevens poured in eight. Facilitating it all, Allemand dealt eight assists. And — in what didn’t reflect itself on the box score the way it did on the hardwood — the Energizer Bunny chimed in with four.

Energizer Bunny?

Coach Lynne Roberts awarded that label to Rae Burrell before Tuesday night’s showdown, adding that “she brings life and energy” to the squad.

When Burrell picked off her first pass of the night, she orchestrated a play that would lead to Julie Vanloo finding a wide-open Sania Feagin in the paint, capping off a clinic in ball movement.

When Burrell stole her second pass of the night, she took matters in her own hand, going coast to coast for an and-1 layup in the paint.

And each time, it seemed as though everyone profited off the Bunny. Her contagious energy seemed to leak on to each of her teammates, who sliced through gaps on offense and brought out the clamps on defense to limit the Mystics (11-11) to just 12 points in the second quarter.

In the process, Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen — the Mystics’ rookie duo who will compete in the All-Star game this Saturday — were held to a combined two points.

Meanwhile, Plum — the Sparks’ All-Star — seemed to have a dress rehearsal Thursday night, tuning up her shot ahead of Friday’s three-point contest and Saturday’s All-Star Game.

Plum opened the night on a tear — nine points on a perfect 4-for-4 start, including one from beyond the arc. With cutters carving up the defense and her bigs sealing space down low, she shifted gears into facilitator mode as well, racking up six assists by game’s end.

And this time, the Sparks (8-14) didn’t let their scoring avalanche slip through, cruising into the All-Star break with a wire-to-wire double-digit buffer.