The Washington Mystics aim to complete a two-game sweep of the Storm on Sunday afternoon when the teams reconvene in Seattle.

Brittney Sykes scored a season-high 18 points and Shakira Austin recorded her fourth consecutive double-double on Friday to propel the Mystics to a 73-66 victory over the Storm. Austin collected 15 points and 11 rebounds for Washington (4-3), which made just 38.2 percent of its shots from the floor (26 of 68) and 27.3 percent from 3-point range (6 of 22).

Elena Delle Donne contributed 11 points and seven rebounds to offset five turnovers for the Mystics.

Washington, which enjoyed a wire-to-wire win, was given plenty of anxious moments after mustering just 10 points in the third quarter.

“The ball stopped moving,” Mystics coach Eric Thibault said, per the Washington Post. “Thought we just had way too many possessions where we tried to force the first action and went away from things that were working for us.

“We tried to make some home-run plays up and down the roster that we didn’t need to make.”

Ezi Magbegor erupted for a season-high 24 points for the Storm (1-5), who were unable to overcome the absence of star Jewell Loyd (foot injury). Loyd is averaging a WNBA-best 28.0 points per game.

Seattle has struggled to forge a new identity following the departures of Breanna Stewart (New York) and Sue Bird (retirement).

“It’s a challenge for me because I have yet to have a team like this,” Seattle coach Noelle Quinn said. “The emphasizing, the coaching, the teaching, the reteaching of film and all of those things. Every single day matters and every single drill matters. And the repetition that this group needs is something that is cool for me, as a coach, to go through. Getting back to basics.”

Speaking of Bird, the Storm will retire her No. 10 jersey on Sunday. The 13-time All-Star and four-time WNBA champion will join former teammate Lauren Jackson as the lone players to see their respective jersey numbers retired by the Storm.

–Field Level Media