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WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- The Washington Mystics got the message from new coach Darrell Walker a little too late. All-Star guard Andrea Stinson scored 22 of her 24 points over the first 24 minutes as the Charlotte Sting jumped to a 16-point lead and held on for a 76-73 victory over the Mystics. Walker warned his players before the game that stopping the Charlotte backcourt of Stinson and Dawn Staley was the key. But Stinson and Staley, who scored 14 of her 17 points in the first half, proved to be too quick and too strong for Washington. Stinson added six rebounds and five assists, and Staley contributed seven assists. Stinson hit a 3-pointer, a fastbreak layup and short jumper after an offensive rebound in the Sting's 9-0 run to open the second half, which gave them a 50-34 lead with 18:03 left in the game. The Mystics went on an 11-2 charge to get within 71-68 on All-Star Chamique Holdsclaw's fastbreak layup with 1:46 to go, but Staley answered with a layup -- her first basket in the second half. "Their style of play was just double-teaming everywhere," Staley said. "We've never seen that kind of pressure before. We gave in a little bit and lost the lead, but at the end I think we kept our composure. "At the end of the game I took it upon myself to start penetrating," she added. "If you get by those first key defenders, you have numbers." All-Star starter Nikki McCray's layup cut the lead to 73-70 with 1:08 left, but Staley fed Stinson for a layup and the Sting again had a five-point lead. Former Sting forward Vicky Bullett nailed a 3-pointer, pulling Washington within 75-73 with 16 seconds left, and the Mystics fouled Staley with 7.9 seconds to go. Staley hit one of two from the line, and Holdsclaw badly missed a 3-pointer with less than a second left. "I think we were hesitant at the end, no one wanted to take the shot," Stinson said. "We had to regroup and come back and say we've just got to go for the win, go to the basket." Bullett led Washington with 22 points and eight rebounds. McCray scored 19 and Holdsclaw added 14 and eight rebounds. "When I came back in (after going out with five fouls), we were down by 15 and we just started trapping," McCray said. "We thought we could get back in the basketball game if we just trapped. We started trapping, came up with a couple of steals and that was the key." Staley scored 10 points and Stinson eight over the first 15 minutes of the game, leading Charlotte to a 30-21 lead. The Sting hit 12 of their first 19 shots. Andrea Nagy hit a 3-pointer and a follow layup, Bullett had a block and rookie Keisha Anderson had a steal in a 10-2 run capped by Bullett's baseline jumper that brought the Mystics within 32-31 with 2:32 left in the half. Most of the run came after McCray went to the bench with her third foul. The Sting appeared to be headed for their fifth turnover in five minutes before Stinson drilled a desperation 3-pointer from the top of the arc as the shot clock was winding down. That started the Sting on a 9-4 surge over the final two minutes of the half, and Charlotte took a 41-34 lead into the locker room. The Mystics have dropped nine of their last 13 games --including six straight at home -- following a 5-3 start and are battling Detroit for fourth place in the Eastern Conference. Walker, the director of player personnel for the NBA Washington Wizards, was named interim coach of the Mystics on Friday after Nancy Darsch resigned. "I like Darrell because he's very energetic," said Holdsclaw, whose disagreements with Darsch hit the media in Washington. "He's like, 'Go out there and work hard. You need a sub -- come out -- then go back in.' He makes it easy. He definitely has a lot of energy and knowledge of the game." The Sting snapped their losing streak at four games but have dropped nine of their last 11 overall. It appears likely the Sting will miss the playoffs for the first time.
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