Duo of Meesseman, Delle Donne ‘help’ Mystics capture title
>> WASHINGTON: Belgium’s Emma Meesseman scored 22 points and Elena Delle Donne added 21 as the Washington Mystics rallied for an 89-78 victory over the Connecticut Sun on Thursday to claim their first WNBA title.
The Sun were in control at halftime of the decisive game-five clash, but they couldn’t hold off league Most Valuable player Delle Donne and Meesseman, who was named MVP of the finals.
The score was knotted at 70-70 with less than eight minutes remaining when Meesseman came up with a steal that led to a lay-up by Natasha Cloud.
Delle Donne banked in a shot and Kristi Toliver drove for a layup to push the Mystics to a 76-72 lead.
Another basket from Delle Donne gave Washington a sixpoint lead — tying their biggest of the night. The Sun would get no closer.
Meesseman came off the bench and put up more than 20 points in three of the five finals games.
She averaged 17.8 points per game, shooting 57 percent overall and 50 percent from threepoint range.
After she missed last year’s finals, the Belgian was called the “missing piece” by her teammates.
“I’m their teammate,” she said, adding she just did what she had to “to help my team win a championship.
“This is my family right here,” Meesseman said.
The victory gave coach Mike Thibault his first WNBA championship. The league’s all-time winningest coach had reached the finals three times in his career — twice with Connecticut — and last season with Washington, but fell short each time.
Delle Donne said of the coach: “He’s created such a family atmosphere here that the least we could do is win a title for him,’’ she said. AFP/AP