WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Miami Sol and Washington Mystics stooped
to a new WNBA low.
Miami defeated Washington 42-36 Wednesday night in the lowest
scoring game in league history.
"Yeah, it was an ugly game," said Sheri Sam, who led Miami
with 15 points. "The ball for some reason wasn't going in for
either team. It was a struggle."
The teams shot a combined 25-for-102 (24.5 percent) and 0-for-26
from 3-point range in stumbling lower than the 86 points scored in
the Charlotte Sting's 48-38 victory over the Seattle Storm on July
7.
"I've been in ugly games, but this was really ugly -- just a
defensive, physical game," Sam said. "But to say these were tired
teams, that would be a copout. Sometimes you're just going to have
games like that."
Sam made six of 12 shots to lead the Sol (18-11) to their third
straight win as Miami became the first of the WNBA's four most
recent expansion teams to make the playoffs.
Chamique Holdsclaw scored 18 points on 4-for-13 shooting to lead
the Mystics (9-20), who've lost at least 20 games in three of four
seasons in the league. All-Star guard Nikki McCray shot 0-for-7 as
only two Mystics converted more than one field-goal attempt.
Despite shooting just 19.6 percent (10-of-51) for the game, the
Mystics trailed just 38-36 on two free throws by Holdsclaw with
2:05 remaining.
"It's an interesting bunch of numbers, and if you compare it to
the numbers at halftime, obviously, that really shouldn't hurt
us," Washington coach Tom Maher said.
Sam scored seven consecutive points for Miami as the Sol took an
11-7 lead. The Mystics missed 21 of their first 25 shots, yet
managed to take an 18-17 lead on Holdsclaw's two free throws with
3:15 remaining in the half.
The Sol failed to score for a five-minute stretch late in the
first half and led 23-20 at halftime.
Both teans went four minutes without scoring midway through the
second half before Sam's jumper gave Miami a 34-30 lead with 6:13
left. Ruth Riley's layup and pair of free throws extended Miami's
lead to 38-32 with 2:48 left.
"Winning ugly is better than losing ugly," Sol coach Ron
Rothstein said. "A win is a win is a win."
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ALSO SEE
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