ARLINGTON, TX — The Dallas Wings (8-24) just can’t survive a bad quarter with the limitations of their roster, and the bad quarter seems to bite them every game. On Sunday against the Washington Mystics (14-17) at College Park Center, it was the third quarter that did Dallas in. Then the walls caved in around the Wings in the fourth.

Washington outscored Dallas 61-37 in the second half on the Mystics’ way to a 91-78 win. Kiki Iriafen led all scorers with 23 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, while rookie forward Sonia Citron scored 17 of her 18 points after halftime, going 7-for-7 from the field in the second half. Paige Bueckers fought through a sore lower back all afternoon long for Dallas and scored 11 of her 17 team-high points in the first half.

Washington opened the third quarter on a 17-5 run after the Wing methodically built an 11-point halftime lead with hot shooting and sound defense. The Mystics took the lead on the second of two free throws from Jacy Sheldon with just under six minutes left in the frame. It was their first lead since the score was just 9-8 early in the first quarter. Citron found an opening underneath as the Dallas defense suffered a momentary lapse of reason to put the Mystics up 49-46 the next time down, and what was once a feel-good first half brimming with growth and hope was, once again, deteriorating before the Wings’ eyes.

“We’ve talked about it enough,” Bueckers said. “It’s time to put action behind our words.”

Missed free throws and missed bunnies inside loomed large after the Wings worked themselves into the bonus with nearly seven minutes left in the third. The 3-pointers that fell in the first half weren’t falling anymore. Citron, after the Wings held her to just one point on 0-of-3 shooting in the first half, began to find her touch as the Mystics wrestled the momentum of the game away from the Wings. Bueckers picked up three fouls along the way in the third. The ground began to crumble underneath the Wings after they went into halftime with all the good vibes that come from an 11-point lead and the hot hand from 3-point range.

“We’ve got to find a way to put four quarters together,” Wings head coach Chris Koclanes said. “It’s a discipline and a consistency for 40 minutes. You can’t give up 60 points in the second half and expect to win the game.”

But Dallas didn’t come all the way undone in the third. No, that would come as the fourth quarter wore on. Arike Ogunbowale pulled up for a long two-pointer to tie the game, 50-50, with 4:42 left in the third. Maddie Siegrist, coming off of 13- and 15-point performances in her first two games back from a knee injury that held her out for most of the season, nailed her first 3-ball of the game with 3:29 left in the third to tied the game at 53. That was the only 3-point connection of the quarter for the Wings, who cooled off to the tune of 1-of-8 from deep coming out of halftime.

That 17-5 run early in the quarter turned into a 33-17 shellacking in the third. All of a sudden, the Wings just couldn’t keep up. One thing compounded on another, and if Dallas couldn’t put together a fourth-quarter run like the Mystics went on to start the third, this one was going to be over.

They didn’t, and Washington cruised to the 91-78 win. Bueckers led all scorers with 11 points on 4-of-6 from the field (2-of-2 from 3-point range) in the first half, but winced in discomfort after several defensive possessions. She was held out of Friday’s 88-77 loss to the New York Liberty with a back injury and held her lower back a couple of different times in the first half. She wore a wrap around her back when she went to the bench and when she came out of halftime, but Bueckers still played 32 minutes in the loss to the Mystics.

“I’m feeling alright,” Bueckers said. “Good enough to play, so I’m not going to make any excuses.”