SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -Never known as a scorer during her long WNBA career, Ticha Penicheiro departed from her pass-first mentality to make the two biggest baskets Tuesday night for the Sacramento Monarchs.
The WNBA's career assists leader hit back-to-back shots in the final 1:30 of the game and finished with 17 points and eight assists, helping the Monarchs hold off the Washington Mystics for a 87-81 victory.
After Washington forward Monique Currie made a 3-pointer from the corner to tie the game at 75 with 1:43 left, Penicheiro put the Monarchs ahead for good with twisting drive to the basket.
``I wasn't really looking for my shot, but something developed, I read it and tried to be aggressive,'' said Penicheiro, who made 5 of 7 shots and hit 7 of 8 free throws. ``A lot of teams still play me to pass the ball when I drive, but I'll shoot it.''
Following a 24-second violation by Washington, Penicheiro made a clutch 13-footer in the lane for a 79-75 lead with 44 seconds remaining.
``Ticha played huge for them, she made some big shots,'' Currie said. ``She's a veteran, a decorated player in this league. She's looking to be more aggressive this season and she was able to score tonight.''
Kara Lawson scored 13 points for Monarchs and, Rebekkah Brunson and Scholanda Robinson both had 12 points.
``When we play this well, especially offensively, we're tough to beat,'' Penicheiro said.
Alana Beard scored 31 points for the Mystics (6-10), Currie had 17 points and seven assists, while Nakia Stanford added 10 points.
Even the Monarchs pesky defense had no answer for Beard, who entered the game the WNBA's sixth leading scorer. She connected on three 3-pointers and made 11 of 19 shots.
``You can't stop her one-on-one,'' Monarchs coach Jenny Boucek said. ``She has added a 3-point shot and she always had an ability to penetrate and post up. She's just very tough to defend.''
The victory was the second straight for Sacramento and completed another two-game sweep of the Mystics, who have lost eight straight to the Monarchs dating to September 2004.
The win gave the Monarchs (8-8) a sweep of their brief homestand and got them out of a last-place tie in the Western Conference with Houston, which lost to Connecticut.
Washington, which was coming off its lowest scoring game of the season in a 64-49 loss Sunday in Seattle, has lost two straight and three of four.
``We played poorly against Seattle, but we really showed up tonight,'' Washington coach Tree Rollins said. ``We rebounded well, we executed our offense and did a lot of things well, we just weren't able to come up with the win.''
The Monarchs quickly took control of the game to start the third period. Adrian Williams-Strong scored six points and Lawson added five during a 14-2 run that gave Sacramento an 11-point lead midway through the quarter. They led 64-58 heading into the fourth.
Despite being outplayed in the second quarter, the Monarchs managed to take a 44-43 lead into halftime. Brunson and Robinson scored 10 points for Sacramento, while Beard had 13 for Washington.
Brunson helped the Monarchs get off to a quick start in the opening quarter. She made all four shots and had eight points and four rebounds as Sacramento took a 24-17 lead.
