Thursday night didn’t start the way the Dream would have preferred, and there were moments in the middle that churned guts, yet all ended well when Tiffany Hayes floated in a finger roll with nine seconds left to push Atlanta past Washington, 94-91, at Philips Arena.
With playoff positioning in the balance, the Dream (17-16) started the same way against Washington (13-20) that they did Tuesday against cellar-dwelling San Antonio: poorly.
Good thing Hayes took that inbounds pass straight to the rack to finish with 21 points. It helped, too, that Angel McCoughtry was back for Atlanta after a one-game suspension. She scored 23 of her 31 points in the first half to help the Dream dig out of a 16-6 ditch.
The Dream can finish as high as No. 4 in the standings, which would earn a first-round playoff bye, depending on their regular-season finale Saturday at Minnesota and how Chicago (17-16) and Indiana (16-16) finish out.
“It was open at first, of course, but they swarmed in and I saw an open left-handed hook,” Hayes said. “All wins are important, but tonight was definitely important.”
That was understatement.
McCoughtry was over-stated in her return after earning a sideline pass by picking up her seventh technical foul of the season last week.
She scored 13 in the first quarter to help Atlanta pull within 28-26 by the end of the period, and pumped in 10 more in the second as The Dream moved to a 52-45 halftime lead.
Then, she was out of gas, and didn’t score in the third. The Dream fell behind again, 71-69, by quarter’s end.
“I got tired,” she said of her impressive start. “I just wanted to come out and redeem myself. I felt like I let the team down in the loss to San Antonio because that was a fourth-place slot we could have had.”
The Mystics had their playoff lives to playoff to play for, and raced to a 10-point lead with intent in their eyes. The Dream were kind of standing around.
They slumped in the fourth quarter as well.
Washington sub Kia Vaughn scored on a put-back – the Mystics’ third consecutive offensive rebound on the possession – with 7:18 left in the game to give the visitors an 80-73 lead.
After two free throws by Bria Holmes (16 points), though, McCoughtry scored six straight points to keep Atlanta close.
The Dream hit 5-of-6 free throws to the finish line, but nothing mattered more than Hayes’ game-winning play.
Trailing 91-90 after Washington’s Tayler Hill hit two three throws, and after a timeout, Clarendon could not inbound. So, she called Atlanta’s last timeout.
“The play was drawn up for Angel, but we didn’t get it in so I told Layshia to look for Tiffany,” Dream head coach Michael said. “Tiffany’s one of the better players getting to the basket so she was able to get there and score for us.”
There was no argument from McCoughtry.
“Tiff hit a big shot … I’m glad she kept her composure. I know she was frustrated about a couple calls,” she said. “Thank you Tiff for bringing us home.”
Elizabeth Williams (13 points, 10 rebounds) grabbed the rebound after Hill missed on a drive, and passed to Clarendon. She made two free throws with four seconds left for the final margin.
Said Cooper: “It was a good bounce-back game for us after blowing a tough loss like we did against San Antonio.”
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