Marine Johannes had a career-high 25 points and made two key plays in overtime as the visiting New York Liberty held off the Washington Mystics 98-93 Sunday afternoon.
Johannes also tied a career high with six 3-pointers. Breanna Stewart had 23 points for the Liberty, who played without injured starters Sabrina Ionescu and Satou Sabally.
New York (2-0) has won 11 straight matchups against the Mystics, including playoff meetings. The game featured 11 lead changes and eight ties. There were 58 fouls called.
Kiki Iriafen had 20 points and 12 rebounds for Washington (1-1). Sonia Citron had 17 points. Washington struggled at the free throw line, going 20-for-29, including 4-for-8 in the extra period.
Johannes sank a big three from the corner with 1:58 left in overtime to put the Liberty up 90-86 and that seemed to be it, but Washington rallied with a 6-2 run to pull even at 92. Betnijah Laney-Hamilton made two free throws for New York with 29.6 seconds left after being fouled by Cassandre Prosper.
On Washington’s next trip down, Johannes poked the ball away from Citron and the refs said the ball went off Citron. Pauline Astier made four free throws in the final seconds to seal it for New York.
The Liberty surged to a 12-point lead in the third quarter, but the young Mystics refused to go away quietly. Georgia Amoore made a three to tie the game at 76 with 6:56 left in regulation. The game was tied at 81 when Johannes scored on a double-pump layup with 1:32 left to give New York the lead. Prosper scored on a nifty backdoor cut to tie it again for Washington.
Stewart put New York back on top with a jumper in the lane, then Iriafen scored inside for Washington to make it 85 all with 15.7 seconds left.
Johannes brought the ball into the frontcourt for New York and found Stewart in the lane, but her shot bounced off the rim at the buzzer and the game went to overtime.
Washington’s first-round pick, Lauren Betts (No. 4 overall), played 18 minutes and scored the first points of her WNBA career, finishing with seven.
–Field Level Media
