Beard takes over, burns Sky in final minutes

Alana Beard made the Sky take one on the chin Friday night.

The Washington Mystics guard heated up in the final minutes of a back-and-forth game and almost single-handedly lifted her team to victory. She scored 8 points in about 90 seconds as the Mystics stole a 64-57 victory in front of 2,600 at the UIC Pavilion.

During her flurry, which began with just less than two minutes to play, Beard broke up two ties with back-to-back 3-pointers and then put the Mystics up for good with a jumper at the top of the key with about 15 seconds left.

The win breaks a five-game losing streak for the Mystics (3-7).

The Sky (3-5) was going for only its second three-game winning streak in franchise history. The Sky had entered the game having won back-to-back games over Atlanta last week.

"It's frustrating. She got hot and she stepped up," Sky guard Jia Perkins said of Beard, who poured in a game-high 22 points. "She's an all-star and that's what they do. But she hit a couple of wide-open ones, so we need to work on our rotation."

The Sky also needs to work on breaking up a zone and hitting free throws.

Key in this game, especially down the stretch, was the Sky's inability to stretch the Mystics' zone defense with some proficient outside shooting. The Sky was just 1 of 10 on 3-pointers.

On top of that, the Sky made an anemic 16 of 29 free throws (55.2 percent) and missed several opportunities in the final minutes to stay in the game by converting at the line.

"That's a team we should beat," Sky coach Steve Key said of the Mystics. "We know we should beat them and they know it, otherwise they wouldn't have played a zone on us. Our inability to attack a zone was a problem. We couldn't get a shot up. That should not happen.

"We weren't making them pay in any situation. We need to make our free throws, too. If you go 1-for-10, how are you going to win a close game?"

The Sky has lost several close games this season. In fact, the 5 losses have been by a combined 25 points.

"I don't think that we panic (in close games)," said Sky forward Candice Dupree, who scored 11 points, second to Perkins' 17 points. "We just make crucial mistakes at the wrong time. It's just mental breakdowns.

"I don't know what it is. Sometimes we do a good job of executing our plays, everything's running smooth, and then other nights it's like we've never played with each other before."