ATLANTA (AP) — Kelsey Mitchell scored 29 points, including the clinching free throws with 5 seconds left, Caitlin Clark added 19 points and the Indiana Fever disappointed a record Atlanta crowd by holding off the Dream 84-79 on Monday night.
In the closing seconds, without a timeout, Atlanta missed two 3-pointers but grabbed two offensive rebounds before fumbling the ball away, which led to Mitchell’s free throws.
Atlanta (10-19), which started the day a half-game out of the final playoff spot, trailed by 18 early in the second half when Clark hit a 3-pointer before outscoring the Fever (14-16) 41-32. The Dream got within two before Indiana’s five-point possession blunted the rally.
Aliyah Boston had 14 points and 11 rebounds for Indiana and Damiris Dantas scored 33 off the bench. Clark had four 3-pointers, tying the rookie record of 85 by Atlanta’s Rhyn Howard in 2022.
Tina Charles scored 21 to lead Atlanta, which moved the game to the home of the Atlanta Hawks and set an attendance record of 17,608, surpassing the crowd that attended the last game against the Fever (17,575). Howard had 16 points, Allisha Gray 12 — none after receiving a flagrant foul from Boston midway through the third quarter — and Jordin Canada 10 for the Dream.
Howard’s 3 pulled Atlanta to 76-74 with 4:13 to play but after an offensive rebound Clark found Lexie Hull for an and-1 layup a minute later. Hull rebounded her missed free throw and fed Mitchell for an and-1 layup she converted for an 81-74 lead.
LIBERTY 84, MERCURY 70
PHOENIX (AP) — Breanna Stewart scored 21 points, Courtney Vandersloot added 16 and New York used a 10-0 run in the fourth quarter to pull away from Phoenix.
Sabrina Ionescu scored five points as the Liberty, starting with Stewart’s turnaround jumper from the foul line, turned a 64-57 lead into a 17-point advantage midway through the fourth quarter. Leonie Fiebich contributed a 3-pointer, her only basket of the game.
Jonquel Jones scored 15 points for the Liberty (27-5), who hit 12 3-pointers and outscored Phoenix 14-3 at the foul line. Ionescu finished with 13 points.
Brittney Griner scored 22 to lead the Mercury (16-15), but had seven of their 20 turnovers. Natasha Cloud added 18 points, Kahleah Copper had 14 and Diana Taurasi 10. The turnovers cost Phenix 28 points and the bench was outscored 15-4.
New York was 12 for 29 behind the arc to Phoenix’s 5 for 22.
Taurasi hit a 3-pointer in the closing seconds to pull the Mercury into a tie at 38 at the break. The Liberty led by as many as nine but was outscored 20-12 inside and Phoenix had 15 fastbreak points.
Griner reached 800 career blocks for the Mercury and Cloud reached 200 assists for the season, passing Taurasi for the single-season franchise record. Taurasi also moved past Lindsey Whalen (2,348) for fourth on the WBA career assists list.
MYSTICS 74, STORM 72
SEATTLE (AP) — Brittney Sykes scored 20 points, including the winning free throws with 1.1 second left, and Washington picked up their fourth road win, handing Seattle just their fourth home loss.
The Mystics got a big boost from their reserves with Emily Engstler scoring 12 points and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough adding 11. Engstler also had nine rebounds and three steals. Julie Vanloo also scored 11 for Washington (8-22) and Stefanie Dolson grabbed 10 rebounds.
Jewell Loyd led Seattle (18-11) with 16 points, Sami Whitcomb had 11 and Skylar Diggins-Smith added 10. Nneka Ogwumike had 10 rebounds.
Gabby Williams, a star on the French team that won silver in the Paris Olympics had three points in 25 minutes in her first game of the WNBA season.
Neither team had a double-digit lead and the difference in the fourth quarter was never more than four points.
Ogwumike pulled Seattle into a tie at 72 with 55.2 seconds to go and the teams traded misses, with Sykes rebounding the Storm miss with 12.5 to go and headed for the bucket before getting fouled by Diggins Smith as she attempted the game-winning shot.
The Mystics won back to back games for the first time since June; Seattle had not played since winning 83-77 in Washington last Tuesday.
Seattle scored the last eight points of the first half to take a 43-42 lead. The Storm used a balanced attack to offset Washington going 8 of 16 from 3-point range but 8 of 18 inside the arc. Eight Seattle players scored, six of them scoring six or seven points.
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