Mystics, Storm into Finals
The Washington Mystics overcame a quiet night from Elena Delle Donne to earn a trip to the WNBA Finals for the first time in franchise history, holding off the host Atlanta Dream 86-81 in the decisive fifth game of their semifinal series Tuesday.
The Dream led 71-69 with just under seven minutes remaining but went cold. Washington seized the lead with a 9-0 run and advanced to the Finals, where it will face the Seattle Storm in the best-of-five series.
Rookie Ariel Atkins scored 20 points, Kristi Toliver had 19 and Tianna Hawkins added 17 for the Mystics, who also got 14 from Delle Donne.
“Wow,” Mystics coach Mike Thibault said. “We’re here because we’re persistent, we’re resilient and we play together.”
For Seattle, Sue Bird scored 14 of her 22 points in the fourth quarter as the host Storm rallied for a 94-84 win over the Phoenix Mercury in Game 5 of that series.
Playing with a broken nose suffered in Game 4 and wearing a protective mask, Bird struggled with her shot for the first three quarters, but got hot in the closing minutes. She knocked down three straight jumpers midway through the fourth quarter, including two threepointers.
ELSEWHERE USA Gymnastics president quits
USA Gymnastics president Kerry Perry is the latest person to resign in the wake of the sexual abuse scandal surrounding former sports doctor Larry Nassar.
Perry late last year replaced Steve Penn, who also had resigned after the Nassar case broke.
Numerous other people have been criminally charged, fired or forced out of their jobs during the investigations into the once-renowned gymnastics doctor, including former Michigan State president Lou Anna Simon and athletic director Mark Hollis.
USA Gymnastics also removed its board of directors in January, a decision it reached only after the USOC threatened the organization with decertification.
Nassar was sentenced to decades in prison after hundreds of girls and women said he sexually abused them under the guise of medical treatment, including while he worked for Michigan State and Indiana-based USA Gymnastics, which trains Olympians. Golf: Tiger Woods is returning to the Ryder Cup as a player for the first time in six years. Phil Mickelson will set a Ryder Cup record by playing for the 12th straight time. They join Bryson DeChambeau, the hottest player in golf, as three of the American wild-card selections.
U.S. captain Jim Furyk had an easy time with three of his four picks. DeChambeau, Mickelson and Woods were the next three in the U.S. standings behind the eight players who earned automatic spots after the PGA Championship.
Still to come for Furyk is his final captain’s pick, to be announced Monday after the BMW Championship.
The matches are Sept. 28-30 outside Paris. NBA: The Indiana Pacers signed coach Nate McMillan to a multiyear contract extension. McMillan, 54, has a 90-74 record and helped lead the team to the playoffs the past two seasons. He finished sixth in Coach of the Year balloting after the Pacers surprised nearly everyone by earning the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference with a 48-34 record.