In first game without injured Caitlin Clark, Fever lose to Mystics

Brittney Sykes poured in 21 points and Kiki Iriafen had 16 points as the Washington Mystics snapped a three-game losing streak by defeating the visiting Indiana Fever 83-77 on Wednesday night at Baltimore.

Washington's Shakira Austin, who was cleared to play after being in concussion protocol, and rookie teammate Sonia Citron racked up 13 points apiece, allowing the Mystics (3-3) to clamp down defensively during key stretches of the game.

Fever guard Caitlin Clark missed her first game in what might be a two-week layoff as she recovers from a quadriceps strain.

DeWanna Bonner scored 21 points off the bench for Indiana (2-3), while Kelsey Mitchell notched 14 points, Natasha Howard had 11 points and Aliyah Boston added 10 points.

The Fever, which connected on 39.7 percent of their attempts from the field, shot 5-for-21 on 3-pointers.

The game was scheduled for Baltimore as a special event with Clark's expected arrival, so it was a downer in that regard when she was out with the injury.

Sykes also pulled in a game-high nine rebounds and shared the game's second-best total in assists with four. Washington was charged with 17 turnovers, one more than Indiana.

The Mystics had the biggest lead of the game -- at the time -- for either team at 68-60 with less than seven minutes remaining. Then Iriafen's basket made it 70-60 as the Fever was amid a scoring drought of more than three minutes.

A Sykes three-point play stretched the gap to 73-62. Bonner scored all of Indiana's points, including on a long 3-point launch at the buzzer, during the team's game-closing 7-1 run that wasn't enough.

The Mystics led 44-40 at halftime, boosted by Austin's 13 points. Washington shot 48.6 percent from the field in the first half, though it was outscored 12-6 on free throws.

Howard was the only Indiana starter with more than one first-half field goal.