The momentum that had propelled the Washington Mystics to six wins in a row to close the regular season and the second seed in the WNBA playoffs came to an abrupt halt in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
A poor start and a late comeback weren’t enough against the high-octane Atlanta Dream, who stole homecourt advantage with a 95-90 win in front of 10,322.
Angel McCoughtry paced the visitors with 28 points, while former Mystics guard Coco Miller added 20 and Iziane Castro Marques had 19.
The Dream, whom the Mystics had held to 35.6 percent from the field in a 90-81 win in Atlanta on Sunday in the teams’ regular-season finale, led by as many as 17 points in the third quarter on the strength of 53.5 percent shooting.
Marissa Coleman scored all of her 18 points off the bench in the second half, including 14 in the final quarter, but it was too little too late. Matee Ajavon (16 points) hit three free throws to close within 77-75 with 4:34 remaining, but the Mystics would get no closer.
The teams will meet in Game 2 in Atlanta on Friday.
It took the Mystics five missed shots and a pair of turnovers before they gave the Verizon Center crowd any indication that they were ready to handle the intensity of the postseason.
Atlanta had a 10-1 lead by the time Crystal Langhorne earned a hard-fought first field goal with 5:41 left in the first period.
The bucket also sparked an 11-2 run to even the score at 12-12, and Katie Smith’s 3-pointer put Washington ahead for the first time at 17-14 a short time later.
But the momentum reverted quickly as the Dream started the second quarter in much the same way as they had the first.
Led by an emotionally charged McCoughtry, who scored 12 points in the period, Atlanta restored its advantage and pushed it into double digits with a 13-2 run.
The Mystics went into the break down 48-33, matching their second-largest halftime deficit of the season.
