Elena Delle Donne injured late in Mystics’ loss to Dream

Teammates sprinted off the bench and surrounded the two-time WNBA MVP as she lay facedown under the basket in pain. Players held up towels around her as the medical staff tended to Delle Donne, who had finally rediscovered her form after a pair of back surgeries limited her for the past three years.

Afterward, Coach Eric Thibault said Delle Donne had rolled her left ankle and called it a sprain, adding that the team would know more Saturday. The news brought modest relief — at least it wasn’t a back injury.

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“Extremely, extremely [scary],” Mystics guard Brittney Sykes said. “We’re very, very lucky and very blessed that she’s okay. Everything was so fast. One minute drive, next minute you see Delly on the floor. And I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ Really happy that she’s okay and she’s going to do what she has to do to get back.”

Delle Donne had scored a game-high 31 points, making 13 of 19 shots. Her injury comes at a pivotal time for the Mystics (9-6), who are already without Shakira Austin (hip strain) and Kristi Toliver (plantar fasciitis) for multiple weeks.

The collision happened as Delle Donne was trying to defend Nia Coffey, who went through her for a layup and a foul. Coffey’s free throw was the final point of the game. Soon thereafter, Delle Donne walked to the locker room with help from Mystics staff.

The Mystics trailed by 10 with 6:18 remaining before Delle Donne took over. She scored 14 of her points in the fourth quarter but couldn’t get her team past the Dream, a team the Mystics beat by 23 just two days earlier in Washington.

Sykes had a strong all-around game despite foul trouble and posted 15 points, six rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block. Natasha Cloud added 15 points, six rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block.

Thibault, however, was particularly unhappy with the Mystics’ perimeter defense.

“Tonight is unacceptable,” Cloud said. “It’s absolutely unacceptable for the commitments that we’ve made, for how good we are, for how good we are defensively. We got smacked in the mouth. … We got bullied tonight.

“We’re growing, but I think where our biggest growth needs to be is in that same mind-set, that same focus, that same intentionality that we played New York with, we need to play every other team with.”

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Allisha Gray played all 40 minutes and led the Dream with 26 points. Coffey scored 15 points, and Rhyne Howard had 14 points, eight assists, five rebounds…