Washington Mystics win 1st WNBA championship

Emma Meesseman of the Washington Mystics. — (Image credit: Rob Carr/Getty Images)

The Washington Mystics defeated the Connecticut Sun 89-78 on Thursday night, earning the team's first WNBA championship in franchise history.

It all came down to Game 5, with Emma Meesseman of the Mystics ending the night with 22 points; she was also named Finals MVP. For the Sun, Jonquel Jones finished with 25 points and nine rebounds. The Mystics have been in the league since 1998, and it wasn't until 2017 that they made it to the playoffs. During their first-ever appearance in the Finals last season, the Mystics lost to the Seattle Storm.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.