Washington Mystics Built a Lead, Phoenix Mercury Torched It with French Fire

With under a minute to play and the game twisting tighter than a towel in the spin cycle, Phoenix Mercury guard Monique Akoa Makani let it fly.

The rookie from France, playing in just her fourth WNBA game, stepped into a go-ahead triple like she’d been doing it for a decade.

Splash. Phoenix 64, Washington 62.

And with that dagger, just like that, the Mystics were toast.

The Mercury closed the game on a 16–4 run to stun Washington 68–62 on Sunday afternoon. Akoa Makani finished with 13 points on the contest and calmly iced it at the line—two free throws with 14 seconds left, no hesitation.

Alyssa Thomas sealed it with two more three ticks later, and that was that.

A Self-Destruct Button in Red, White & Blue

The Mystics had this game bagged and tagged like it was headed for storage.

Washington found itself up six with 4:23 left after a Kiki Iriafen putback, and then….they never made another field goal. They missed everything but the bus.

Four free throws. That’s it.

 

“We turned the ball over, and they played good defense. Things just did not go our way,” said Sydney Johnson, who started at point and logged a team-high 6 assists in the loss.

Turnovers were not a problem, they were a plague.

Rookie guard Sonia Citron coughed the basketball up six times. Rookie forward Kiki Iriafen had seven. Point guard, Jade Melbourne added four. In total, Washington finished with twenty-seven turnovers.

That’s not a typo. That’s a crisis.

The Mystics looked like they were dribbling on ice.

 

“I think we had good moments,” said Aaliyah Edwards. “But when it came down to the last three minutes in the fourth quarter, that’s when Phoenix capitalized on our mistakes.”

It also didn’t help that Washington’s stars went dim in the desert.

Brittney Sykes had a rough shooting night from the field finishing with ten points on 1-of-13 shooting.

Edwards Returns, Chemistry Brewing

Despite the collapse, Washington fans got a first look at what might become a frontcourt nightmare for opposing teams.

Aaliyah Edwards looked good in her Mystics debut game, logging 15 minutes off the bench.

 

 “I feel great being back, and being alongside my sisters,” Edwards said. “It just feels nice being back in a Mystics jersey.”

Edwards also had a lot to say about her new front court partner. There were flashing glimpses of the two-way punch she and Iriafen could deliver. 

 

“I’m looking forward to our chemistry… It was nice to share the court with her… We’re really going to be a big force. Not only us, our duo—there’s multiple duos within the team. You can’t really count us out.”

Rookie Sonia Citron agreed about having Edwards back in the lineup.

“I’ve never played with her. So just very, very exciting… being on the court I could immediately feel her presence—she’s relentless… very competitive. I’m just really excited to keep playing with her and build that chemistry.”

Phoenix Flashes Depth, Even Without Copper Starting

Kahleah Copper sat this one out, and still, Phoenix came loaded with firepower.

You could squint at the stat sheet and see it: a rookie dagger from Akoa Makani, a steadying hand from Satou Sabally (12 points, 9 boards), and another do-it-all game from Alyssa Thomas, who looks like she’s been quietly learning desert survival tricks since January. Eleven points. Eight rebounds. Five assists. And about 30 different ways she held Washington’s offense underwater.

Thomas wasn’t just a stabilizer. She was the engine of Phoenix’s fourth-quarter comeback. Afterward, she wasn’t interested in style points.

 

“We had to control what we could control, which is our energy and effort,” Thomas said. “We dug in and trusted each other and ground out a hard win.”

The Mercury didn’t exactly catch fire on offense—the team shot just 38% from the floor—but they clamped down on defense, forcing 27 turnovers and punishing every lazy pass with sharp, physical rotations. Thomas credited the team’s grit more than any scheme.

 

“We still took our shots, there was a lid on the basket tonight,” she said. “Credit to this team to continue to fight and grind out this win.”

This was a vintage AT game. Elbows flying. Jersey soaked. Opponents off balance. She didn’t need a scoring binge—just a loose ball and a little chaos. Every time the Mercury needed a stop or a surge, there she was, dragging them across the finish line.

“We gotta credit our defense, especially tonight,” Thomas added.

That defense was what flipped the script. After surrendering 22 points in the third quarter, Phoenix slammed the door shut in the fourth, holding Washington to just 8. No field goals after the 4:23 mark. No mercy.

Even without their leading scorer, the Mercury proved they could close. They could swarm. They could scrap. Copper might be the flamethrower, but this roster’s got torches scattered everywhere.

Phoenix moves to 3–1 with the win. And if this is what they look like without their best scorer?

The rest of the league better keep the lights on.