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Seeking a sign

Holdsclaw scores 21 to lead Mystics over Charlotte

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Posted: Thursday July 01, 1999 11:19 AM

Charlotte's Vicky Bullett (left) fights with the Mystics' Andrea Nagy for the rebound. AP

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Washington coach Nancy Darsch was seeking a sign that the Mystics were ready to end their five-game losing skid. She found what she was looking for in her players' eyes.

"I saw more determination. I haven't always seen that. Sometimes I'd see surprise or almost panic, but not this time," Darsch said after the Mystics used an 18-10 run in the last nine minutes for a 68-63 victory over the Charlotte Sting on Wednesday night.

Top WNBA draft choice Chamique Holdsclaw scored 11 of her 21 points in the decisive surge and added 14 rebounds to lead Washington, which also snapped a three-game slide on the road and won for the first time in six games against the Sting.

"We can't get all excited about this," Holdsclaw said. "We just have to keep going out there and putting out the same kind of effort we did in this game. We can build on this, but we have to be smart about it."

Charlotte (3-5) fell behind by as many as 12 points in the first half before opening the second half with a 16-5 run, but the Sting wound up losing for the third time in four home games.

Washington, which came in with an NBA-worst record of 1-7, outscored the Sting 44-30 in the paint. The Mystics also had a 38-28 edge on the boards against a team that came in with the worst rebounding average in the Eastern Conference.

"We just didn't make good decisions," Charlotte coach Marynell Meadors said. "We've got to go back and do a little soul-searching. We've got to play harder."

One player Meadors couldn't fault was point guard Dawn Staley, whose availability was in doubt because of a sore left knee. Staley started and played 35 minutes, scoring 15 of her 22 points in the second half and adding six assists.

Alessandra Santos de Oliveira added a season-high 16 points and seven rebounds for the Mystics, who set the tone in the first half with dominating inside play, outscoring Charlotte 26-16 in the paint and outrebounding the Sting by seven.

"It was nice to get off to a good start for a change," Holdsclaw said. "That's the mindset we have to get into. If we can start getting on teams early, we can really help ourselves in the long run."

 

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