Elena Delle Donne had 19 points and 12 rebounds to help the Washington Mystics rout the visiting Los Angeles Sparks 96-64 on Thursday night in the second round of the WNBA playoffs.
The Sparks and the Lynx — who have won the past three WNBA champions — have now both been eliminated from the postseason. Third-seeded Washington will open a best-of-five series at Atlanta on Sunday, aiming for its first WNBA Finals appearance.
LaToya Sanders and Ariel Atkins each scored 14 points for Washington. The Mystics had 28 assists and six players in double figures.
Delle Donne made a baseline jumper to close a 15-2 run for a 21-13 lead and the Mystics extended it to 50-29 by halftime and led 75-46 entering the fourth.
The Sparks played at Connecticut on Sunday, hosted the Lynx on Tuesday, and returned to the East Coast in a four-day stretch.
"[They were] extremely gassed," said Natasha Cloud, who had 13 points and seven assists for Washington. "So we knew that, and we took that to our advantage."
Candace Parker scored 16 points for Los Angeles (19-16). Nneka Ogwumike and Chelsea Gray — two of the Sparks' top three scorers — combined to go 0-for-9 shooting in the first half. Ogwumike finished with eight points and Gray, who had 26 in the 75-68 playoff victory over the Lynx, had seven.
The game was played at George Washington University because the Mystics' regular home, Capital One Arena, is undergoing renovations.
