Washington, DC--

With the way the Washington Mystics have opened the 2006 season at the Verizon Center, you can never count them out of a game. While they have struggled away from home, the Mystics have found comfort at home and again tonight they found a way to make the fourth quarter work for them knocking off the Charlotte Sting, 87-70.

Washington center Chasity Melvin, forward DeLisha Milton-Jones and guard Nikki Teasley each scored eight points in the final 10 minutes, enabling the Mystics (5-3) to cruise past the Sting (2-5) after trailing by eight in the first half.

During the first half the Mystics struggled and had to dig out of  hole at halftime trailing 37-34.

Teasley started the Mystics down the right road after halftime opening the quarter with a three-pointer, the Mystics then  pushed their lead to four and by the final period the Mystics had the Sting where they needed them when they were down 54-52.

After the game, many of the Mystics players saw the game slipping at the half and decided to battle the outside shots of the Sting in the second half and the fourth quarter just seemed to come to them the way it has for the first three home games this season.

"Everything just all came together in the fourth quarter and that's the way we need to play all season," Melvin said. "We have to play team basketball and not settle for jump shots like we did in the first half."

Tangela Smith scored a season-high 24 points and Sheri Sam added nine and seven rebounds for Charlotte, which fell to 0-2 on the road.