The schedule looked daunting.  Five consecutive games against the Lynx, Sky, and Mercury.  But, so far, so good.  The Mystics won the first of these five against the WNBA’s top team in Minnesota, a 77-69 home win over the visiting Lynx on Sunday evening at Verizon Center.

After a back-and-forth first quarter, the game turned in the second, when the Mystics closed out the first half on a 17-2 run, the difference in the game.

Ivory Latta led the way with 20 points off the bench, and after the game explained that her teammates were looking for her to carry them to the win.

“My posts were just like, ‘Ivory I got you’, I give all the credit to my teammates, they just kept telling me to shoot it and gave me that confidence.”

Maya Moore, the reigning league MVP, was averaging 34.0 ppg over her last two games, and was coming off a season-high 36 points in Friday’s win over the Dream.  But, the Mystics came in with a gameplan and held her to just 12 points on 4/15 shooting, thanks in large part to the individual defensive effort from Tierra Ruffin-Pratt.  TRP was outstanding on the defensive side, forcing Moore into tough shots all night, while adding 10 points of her own, including a big jumper down the stretch to put the Mystics back up by seven.

The Lynx got as close as five points in the final frame, trailing 73-68 with 2:49 left, but the Mystics got the stops they needed down the stretch and made key free-throws to close out a Minnesota team that entered on a three-game winning streak.

The only sour note from the game was that Emma Meesseman suffered what is thought to be a dislocated finger on her shooting hand that could cause her to miss time.  She will be examined by the medical staff again early next week and then a prognosis will be made.  If she is forced to miss time, it could open up playing time for rookie Ally Malott.

Even with the unfortunate injury news, this win was one of the biggest for the Mystics and one that they really needed to get to begin a tough two week schedule.

Now they head to Minnesota to take on these same Lynx at the Target Center on Wednesday night.