Georgia Amoore scores career-high 25 and the Mystics move into 6th with 80-73 win over Mercury

PHOENIX (AP) — Georgia Amoore scored 16 of her career-high 25 points in the fourth quarter, Kiki Iriafen added 20 points and 12 rebounds for her 19th double-double of the season and the Washington Mystics beat the Phoenix Mercury 80-73 on Thursday night.

Washington (24-15) moved into sixth in the WNBA standings with the win and New York’s loss to Golden State earlier Thursday.

Washington trailed 63-53 with 8:17 left in the fourth before going on a 17-2 run and taking a 70-65 lead.

Amoore made 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to give the Mystics a 78-73 lead with 1:18 left. Betnijah Laney-Hamilton sealed it by making two free throws with 28.1 seconds left, stretching the lead to seven points.

Amoore finished with a career-high six 3-pointers, helping to easily eclipse her previous best of 14 points in a game. Shakira Austin added 11 points for Washington.

Kahleah Copper led Phoenix (13-26) with 35 points on 13-of-22 shooting. Copper became the fastest player in franchise history to score 2,000 points with Phoenix, doing so in 103 games, a game quicker than Diana Taurasi and Cappie Pondexter.

Phoenix guard Lexi Held banked in a 3-pointer while being fouled with 2:06 left in the third and she made the free throw to give Phoenix its first lead, 54-51, since it was 15-13. Held had a chance for a seven-point possession after the foul was upgraded to a Flagrant 1, but she was short on a 3-point attempt.

Up next

Mystics: At Los Angeles on Friday.

Mercury: Host Toronto on Saturday.

See AP’s full WNBA coverage here