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Beard's jumper lifts Mystics over Silver Stars

Jul 1, 2009 - 3:05 AM SAN ANTONIO(AP) -- Alana Beard hit a 16-footer with 1.9 seconds left to help the Washington Mystics beat the San Antonio Silver Stars 84-82 on Tuesday night.

The Mystics (5-3) avoided a three-game losing streak. Washington opened the season 3-0, but is 2-3 since.

Beard and Lindsey Harding led the Mystics with 19 points apiece. Beard picked up her fifth foul before the third quarter buzzer and went to the bench, but came back a minute later when the Silver Stars trimmed a 12-point deficit to one.

"I had some stupid fouls," Beard said. "Usually I play well when I have a couple of fouls. (On the last shot) everybody in this league knows I want to go left. So they gave me all of my right, and I took what they gave me."

The Silver Stars (3-4) had a chance to win, but Belinda Snell's 3-pointer at the buzzer bounced off the rim.

Sophia Young led San Antonio with 21 points. Becky Hammon added 18, including 11 straight in the final three minutes. Snell added 14 off the bench.

"It's a shame because it shouldn't have come down to that," Hammon said of her 11-point run. "But they played well. They came in and stole one from us."

After trailing by seven in the first quarter, Washington went ahead by 12 points on Nakia Sanford's 3-point play with 2:53 left in the third quarter.

But San Antonio outscored the Mystics 8-2 to end the quarter, trailing 59-56 when Snell hit a 3-pointer with less than five seconds to go in the quarter.

Washington led by a point before Harding hit a 3-pointer and followed that with a drive through the lane for a 72-63 lead midway through the fourth.

"We shot the ball well enough to win that game," Hammon said. "We scored 82 points. That's enough points to win a basketball game. The problem was our defense. We didn't get consecutive stops."

The Mystics led by 10 with 2:43 remaining. That's when Hammon scored the next 11 points for the Silver Stars, including a 3-pointer that tied the game with 14 seconds left.