Natasha Cloud found Brittney Sykes for the winning basket and a 90-88 win in New York. Game 1 of the teams’ first-round series is Friday.
victory secured a playoff rematch: The No. 7 seed Mystics locked the Liberty into the No. 2 seed, and the squads will open a best-of-three series here Friday. Game 2 is Sept. 19 in New York, with Game 3 slated for Sept. 22 in Washington if necessary.The teams split their four-game season series; the Mystics won the season opener and the regular season finale.
Washington had nothing but pride to play for Sunday, but Thibault wanted to thread the needle, allowing his players to get into a rhythm heading into the postseason while not playing anyone “crazy” minutes. He did just that, for the most part, although Cloud and Sykes each surpassed 30 minutes.“I think they knew that New York was likely our matchup,” Thibault said.
After the basket, Sykes sprinted downcourt screaming and ripping her jersey out of her shorts as Cloud waved goodbye to the New York crowd.“We have been through a hell of a regular season,” Sykes said. “I don’t think any of us thought that this was going to happen. We didn’t know what it was going to look like. I’m just really proud of our resilience as a team.”Sykes scored 20 points, grabbed seven rebounds and handed out six assists. Cloud posted 17 points, six rebounds and five assists.