Washington Mystics at New York Liberty

· WNBA Commissioner's Cup

Washington Mystics

10-7, 5-3 Away

Final
77 - 65

New York Liberty

6-9, 4-5 Home

Howard leads Liberty to 77-65 win over Mystics

It worked thanks to a strong effort from Natasha Howard, who scored a season-high 27 points to help New York beat the Washington Mystics 77-65 on Thursday night.

New York outscored Washington 44-24 in the paint with Han Xu scoring 12 points to join Howard's big game.

“Finishing inside was big for us,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said. “Tasha was amazing for us. Han just keeps getting better and better. She’s grasping things quite well and she has such a soft touch.”

New York missed 25 of its 31 3-point attempts.

“We had a lot of wide-open looks, we just missed them," Brondello said. “We're going to have nights like that. I like that we are taking a lot of 3s. Defense tonight won the game.”

Howard added nine rebounds and was 13 for 17 from the field for the Liberty (6-9). Sabrina Ionescu had 10 points, nine assists and seven rebounds.

The Mystics (10-7) were missing star Elena Delle Donne, who has been taking games off to rest her back which caused her to miss all of last season. Washington played in Minnesota on Tuesday and play again on Sunday at home.

“We have three games this week and we try to have her only play two right now,” Washington coach Mike Thibault said.

Washington led 24-20 after one quarter despite Howard scoring 12 points for New York in the opening period. The Liberty outscored the Mystics 20-11 in the second quarter to take a 40-35 advantage into the half.

New York extended the lead in the third quarter to 10 behind Howard, who had nine points in the period. The Mystics got within eight in the fourth quarter, but could get no closer.

Natasha Cloud scored 17 points to lead the Mystics.

TRAINING ROOM

Despite being listed as probable for the game, DiDi Richards missed her 14th game of the season because of a right hamstring injury. She went through warmups but wasn't ready to go.

“It's been a long process, they decided to see how she was going to warm up and they decided to give her a few more days,” Brondello said.

New York was also still missing Rebecca Allen (non-COVID illness); Betnijah Laney (right knee) and Jocelyn Willoughby (left knee).

Mystics: host Connecticut on Sunday.

Liberty: host Seattle on Sunday.

Regular Season Series

NY wins series 2-1

Recent Plays

4th 0.0	End of Game	65 - 77
4th 0.0	End of the 4th Quarter	65 - 77
4th 7.4	Sabrina Ionescu makes 4-foot driving floating jump shot	65 - 77
4th 28.7	Shakira Austin makes 5-foot jumper (Rui Machida assists)	65 - 75
4th 44.4	Natasha Howard makes two point shot	63 - 75

Statistics

WSH		NY
24-65	FG	31-69
37	Field Goal %	45
8-29	3PT	6-31
28	Three Point %	19
9-14	FT	9-13
64	Free Throw %	69
37	Rebounds	38
5	Offensive Rebounds	5
32	Defensive Rebounds	33
14	Assists	21
6	Steals	9
4	Blocks	3
13	Turnovers	10
0	Team Turnovers	1
13	Total Turnovers	11
0	Technical Fouls	1
0	Total Technical Fouls	1
0	Flagrant Fouls	0
14	Points Conceded Off Turnovers	6
5	Fast Break Points	12
24	Points in Paint	44
14	Fouls	14
4	Largest Lead	14

Game Information

Barclays Center

Location: Brooklyn, NY
Attendance: 4,168 · Capacity:

2025-26 Eastern Conference Standings

TEAM	W	L	PCT	GB	STRK
New York	-	9	L1	0.59090906	13
Atlanta	-	9	W1	0.59090906	13
Indiana	-	9	W1	0.59090906	13
Washington	2	10	L1	0.5	10
Toronto	3.5	12	L3	0.42857143	9
Chicago	5.5	14	W1	0.33333334	7
Connecticut	8	17	L1	0.22727273	5