By: Jennifer Portee
5/16/2026
Washington didn’t panic. Even when Caitlin Clark made it feel like the game was slipping away.
Instead, the Mystics stayed in control, and when overtime hit, they had just a little more left.
Sonia Citron led the way with 30 points, delivering her most complete performance of the young season, as Washington defeat Indiana 104-102 in a game that felt like it kept changing in both directions until overtime finally decided it.
For a while, it looked like this one would be remembered as another Caitlin Clark moment.
Clark took over the fourth quarter, scoring 17 points and dragging Indiana all the way back from a double-digit deficit. With 1.7 seconds remaining, she drilled a deep three from the left wing to tie it, turning the momentum in an instant.
Even Washington seemed briefly stunned.
Citron tried to steal it right back with a half-court heave that dropped clean, but just after the buzzer. Close enough to raise eyebrows, not enough to count.
Overtime reset everything.
And that’s where Washington regained control.
Citron opened the extra period with purpose, scoring five quick points and setting up teammates when Indiana started to collapse on her. Rookie Cotie McMahon, making her debut, didn’t look like a rookie in the moment she chipped in five key points in OT, playing with a calm that stood out.
Kiki Iriafen quietly put together one of the most important performances of the night: 25 points, 13 rebounds, and a steady presence inside that Indiana never fully solved. Alongside Citron, she powered a second half where Washington’s offense felt far more reliable than explosive, but effective when it mattered.
It showed up clearly in the box score.
Indiana leaned heavily on the three-point line, knocking down 17 shots from deep. But inside, it was a different story. Washington owned the paint, outscoring the Fever by a wide margin and shooting 56% overall the kind of efficiency that kept them afloat even as Clark caught fire.
Still, Indiana had its window late.
Kelsey Mitchell, who finished with 24 points, had a chance to tilt the game but missed two free throws in the final minute of overtime. On the last possession, she couldn’t convert a tough, contested look from the corner as time expired.
The Fever were also shorthanded down the stretch. Aliyah Boston exited in the third quarter with a lower leg injury and didn’t return, leaving a noticeable gap inside on both ends.
Still, Indiana had a chance late.
They came out hot, hitting six of their first seven from three and building an early rhythm. But Washington chipped away, flipped the game in the second quarter, and eventually built a 14-point lead in the second half before Clark led a run to cut it down.
From there, it became a matter of who could settle things down.
Washington did.
Not with one moment, but with a series of smaller ones a finish inside, a composed possession, a defensive stand when they needed it. The kind of plays that don’t always stand out but win games like this.
Clark delivered the highlight.
Citron and the Mystics delivered the result.