Sykes scores 20, makes winning free throws with 1.1 seconds left, lifts Mystic over Storm 74-72

SEATTLE — Brittney Sykes scored 20 points, including the winning free throws with 1.1 second left, and the Washington Mystics picked up their fourth road win, handing the Seattle Storm just their fourth home loss, 74-72 on Monday night.

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.