In front of 12,217 fans at the Phone Booth, the Washington Mystics claimed a 75-63 win against last year’s league MVP Candace Parker (in her third game back from her much publicized maternity leave) and the visiting Los Angeles Sparks on Saturday — a victory which kicked off a six-game home stretch for Washington the right way.

Lindsey Harding got the Mystics rolling in the first quarter with a steal from Parker and a nice pass to Alana Beard, whose layup put the first points on the board for either team. Before you knew it, the Mystics extended their lead to 24 points halfway through the second quarter. To their credit, the Sparks rallied furiously to come back to tie the game at 63, with just over three minutes to play.

Mystics head coach Julie Plank, who couldn’t have been pleased about the blown 24-point advantage, called a timeout. Whatever she said worked like a charm — her team proceeded to go on a 12-point run to close out the game.

“We started off strong and kind of relaxed a little bit,” Plank said about the turning point. “I always want to put the hammer down every minute.”