The Washington Mystics earned a 124-123 quadruple overtime victory over the Portland Fire on Sunday. This was only the second time in WNBA history in which four extra periods were needed, and every second of it was worth watching.
As the clock was winding down in the fourth overtime, Carla Leite came up short of hitting a buzzer-beater that would have given Portland the victory. Instead, the winning bucket came from Mystics guard Sonia Citron with 21 seconds remaining, when she completed a career-high 32 points.
Most impressively, Citron still had the legs to do it after spending 53 minutes on the court.
Here is how it all went down:
How did it happen?
Blame the excitement on Carla Leite. Despite the loss, she showed a lot of grit as she finished with a career-high 32 points and multiple impressive highlights — including the buzzer-beater 3-pointer that started the overtime madness.
First overtime
One was not enough for her, so Leite hit another game-tying shot from beyond the arc with 18 seconds remaining in the first overtime period. Citron tried to win it for Washington with under four seconds remaining but her 3-point jumper bounced off the rim. And just like that, we got more free basketball.
Second overtime
Perhaps it was the tired legs, but the second overtime period only saw a combined eight points from both teams. Sarah Ashlee Barker scored the Fire’s two field goals within 25 seconds with under two minutes remaining. Meanwhile, Citron scored both field goals for the Mystics, including the last one of the period with just under 15 seconds left on the clock.
Third overtime
There was more scoring in the third overtime as both teams registered 13 points each. This time, it was Bridget Carleton’s turnaround jumper over Citron that gave us five more minutes of action. She scored with just 3.1 seconds remaining, but that didn’t stop Citron from attempting an unsuccessful last-second 3-pointer in the hopes of ending things right then and there.
Fourth overtime
Neither team scored in the first two and a half minutes of the fourth extra period, but once the teams started exchanging buckets, it was inevitable this would once again come down to the final seconds. Although Citron put her team ahead 124-122 with 21.4 seconds remaining, Leite had a chance to tie it with two free throws with 13.1 seconds left. She only made one of those shots, before almost redeeming herself with a last-second floater.
Besides Citron, another impressive contributor for Washington was Michaela Onyenwere, who had 30 points while tying a career-high of six 3-pointers. Meanwhile, Kiki Iriafen got her seventh double-double of the season with 27 points and 11 rebounds.
The Fire certainly put on a show despite the loss. Leite stole the spotlight, but Barker and Megan Gustafson also contributed to the valiant effort with a combined 45 points.
Was this the longest game in WNBA history?
Yes and no. The real time elapsed from start to finish on Sunday was three hours and 36 minutes — the longest ever for a WNBA game.
If we are only counting playing time, this was the second quadruple overtime game in league history. The first time was in 2001, which coincidentally also involved the Mystics. That was a surprisingly low-scoring affair with Washington winning 72-69 over the Seattle Storm. Four extra periods is extremely rare — the NBA has only experienced it four times since 2000.
What are the wildest stats?
An extra long game means there are going to be some extra fun stats, and this game certainly delivered on that front. Here are a few worth noting:
- The Fire and Mystics combined for a total of 247 points, which fell just four points short of the most combined points ever in a WNBA game. The highest scoring game was a 127-124 Mercury win over the Lynx in 2010, which featured two overtime periods.
- Sunday was a competitive affair with 21 ties, which is second most in WNBA history. The most was 22 ties between the Atlanta Dream and Indiana Fever in 2009.
- Tough competition sometimes also leads to a high amount of fouls. On Sunday, Barker & Leite were the only Portland starters not to foul out. As a team, the Fire had 39 personal fouls, tied for second most by any team in a single WNBA game.
- The Fire attempted 101 field goals, the second-most ever in a WNBA game, becoming just the fourth team in WNBA history to attempt 100+ field goals in a game. The Mystics attempted 98.
- This was the first game in WNBA history with both teams scoring 60+ points in the paint.
- It was the firs time in the history of the Mystics that two players (Citron and Onyenwere) had 30+ points in the same game.
What’s next for each team?
Neither of these teams entered Sunday with a winning record, but the way they fought certainly proved they should not be overlooked.
The win helped Washington go back to .500 with a 9-9 overall record. The Mystics can rest until Thursday, July 2 when they host Angel Reese and the Atlanta Dream (12-7 overall). This will hopefully give time for both Georgia Amoore and Citron to heal. Amoore left the game in the first half with right knee soreness and Citron was seen limping late in the game.
Portland now holds an 8-12 overall record but Sunday showed coach Alex Sarama a lot of promise. Up next, the Fire will take on the Storm (5-15 overall) in Seattle on July 4.
“Incredibly proud of the group to persevere and show such grit,” Sarama said postgame. “Very, very proud of them. Obviously tied for the longest game in W history. I think so many times tonight we could have just given up, but every single time, we fought back. Execution. I mean, so many great learning opportunities for us as a young group.”
