Washington, DC--

If the Washington Mystics wanted to turn around their dismal start to the 2007 season, they sure have shown all of the teams in the WNBA and their fans that they too can win games and be the premier team in the league. The took another step in the right direction defeating the Detroit Shock, 65-64 for their third straight victory.

The Mystics trailed by 16 points but closed out the game by outscoring Detroit 20-5.

Delisha Milton-Jones led Washington (5-10) with 19 points. Beard added 13 and Nakia Sanford scored 10 points for the Mystics who have won three straight and five out of seven after starting the season 0-8.

"You have to play hard as a team if your going to beat someone like Detroit, I think we did a great job both offensively and defensively tonight. We have played with the same intensity over the past three games and we now know we can beat the best," said Mystics Guard Alana Beard.

Detroit, who came into the Verizon Center losing just two games just did not have their final knockout punch that they have delivered to some teams this season.

The Shock had one more chance to win the game after a timeout with 4.5 seconds to play, Deanna Nolan( 26 points, rebounds)pulled up on the right side but Milton-Jones swatted away her final attempt.

"We know we have another tough team coming in here on Sunday in Indiana, but if we continue to play focused just as we did tonight, this will be a payback game for the game we lost earlier this season.