The Mystics' Alana Beard, guarding Indiana's Katie Douglas, (who along with co-captain Taj McWilliams-Franklin) woke up her teammates with a fiery halftime chat. That helped Washington comeback from 15 points down to edge the Fever 50-48. Picture by Keith Henry
By Keith Henry
WASHINGTON- This game could easily fit under Cinderella stories. An absolutely poor first half from the Mystics could’ve signaled a flogging for the rest of the game. However, Washington took to their familiar script of turning up the heat defensively while Taj McWilliams-Franklin stepped up big with 20 points to help lead the Mystics past the Indiana Fever 50-48 in front of a frenzied Verizon Center crowd.
Anytime a team turns the ball over more than the points they’ve scored, chances are a new low has been reached. The Washington Mystics committed 16 turnovers and scored only 14 points in the first half, which is the lowest ever in the history of the franchise. Ebony Hoffman was torturing the Mystics early and often, scoring a team high 16 points.
Washington head coach Tree Rollins said, “Obviously we didn’t play ball in the first half. We didn’t play good offense, we didn’t play good defense. We couldn’t catch the ball; we couldn’t lay the ball up, we couldn’t make free throws. Everything that you could do wrong as a basketball player, I think we did it. We even got techs. But we just corrected ourselves at the half, Alana Beard gave a very spirited talk to her teammates and they responded.”
Monique Currie said, “The captains Alana and Taj really got on us at halftime. It made sense because it’s enough talking. We need to get out there and do it. We need to make stuff happen and I think we did that. We played hard and left it all on the floor. We were successful.”
Washington trailed 29-14 before they slowly woke up in the second half. At times, the Mystics had several shots go in and out of the basket. The defense slowly pushed Washington into the game. However, Indiana kept the Mystics at bay in the third quarter and only led 40-30 at the end of that stanza.
Washington (7-11) opened the fourth quarter with a 9-1 run. It started off of their pressure defense. McWilliams-Franklin stole a couple of passes and converted them to lay-ups. Monique Currie stuffed Katie Douglas’ shot and McWilliams-Franklin cashed in on the offensive end with a lay-up to cut the deficit to 41-39 with 7:21 remaining.
The Mystics finally took the lead when Currie rebounded Tamika Catchings’ miss and moments later, swished a three pointer from the corner to give the Mystics a 46-43 advantage with 3:14 left.
However, it came down to the defense of the Mystics to get it done. Washington was ahead 50-48 with 17 seconds left when Catchings blocked the shot of McWilliams-Franklin which resulted in a shot clock violation.
Indiana (9-9) got the ball in and Tammy Sutton-Brown got a good shot off inside that didn’t go in with four seconds left. Currie rebounded the ball and sealed a much needed victory for the Mystics. “We were trying to get something on the inside. We got the ball in to Tammy and she got a good look at it. It just didn’t go our way.” Tan White.
Indiana head coach Lin Dunn said about the differences in the two halves, “I thought we played really hard in the first half. I thought we had some let ups in the second half where we relaxed at times. We matched their effort, then they would come again. At the end, Washington looked like they wanted it more than we did. They got loose balls, played a little bit harder, and got that jump ball.”
The Mystics point of concern has been consistent play. They haven’t been able to put together four strong quarters of play all season long. In order for them to contend for a WNBA title, consistency has to take place immediately.
Currie stated, “It would make things a whole lot easier if we could just put four quarters together. Seems like every game, we take off one or two quarters and we really dig ourselves a hole. But at the same time, we’re able to get back in games in one quarter. Imagine if we can put all those together, games won’t be as tough. But we’re working on that.”
WASHINGTON- This game could easily fit under Cinderella stories. An absolutely poor first half from the Mystics could’ve signaled a flogging for the rest of the game. However, Washington took to their familiar script of turning up the heat defensively while Taj McWilliams-Franklin stepped up big with 20 points to help lead the Mystics past the Indiana Fever 50-48 in front of a frenzied Verizon Center crowd.
Anytime a team turns the ball over more than the points they’ve scored, chances are a new low has been reached. The Washington Mystics committed 16 turnovers and scored only 14 points in the first half, which is the lowest ever in the history of the franchise. Ebony Hoffman was torturing the Mystics early and often, scoring a team high 16 points.
Washington head coach Tree Rollins said, “Obviously we didn’t play ball in the first half. We didn’t play good offense, we didn’t play good defense. We couldn’t catch the ball; we couldn’t lay the ball up, we couldn’t make free throws. Everything that you could do wrong as a basketball player, I think we did it. We even got techs. But we just corrected ourselves at the half, Alana Beard gave a very spirited talk to her teammates and they responded.”
Monique Currie said, “The captains Alana and Taj really got on us at halftime. It made sense because it’s enough talking. We need to get out there and do it. We need to make stuff happen and I think we did that. We played hard and left it all on the floor. We were successful.”
Washington trailed 29-14 before they slowly woke up in the second half. At times, the Mystics had several shots go in and out of the basket. The defense slowly pushed Washington into the game. However, Indiana kept the Mystics at bay in the third quarter and only led 40-30 at the end of that stanza.
Washington (7-11) opened the fourth quarter with a 9-1 run. It started off of their pressure defense. McWilliams-Franklin stole a couple of passes and converted them to lay-ups. Monique Currie stuffed Katie Douglas’ shot and McWilliams-Franklin cashed in on the offensive end with a lay-up to cut the deficit to 41-39 with 7:21 remaining.
The Mystics finally took the lead when Currie rebounded Tamika Catchings’ miss and moments later, swished a three pointer from the corner to give the Mystics a 46-43 advantage with 3:14 left.
However, it came down to the defense of the Mystics to get it done. Washington was ahead 50-48 with 17 seconds left when Catchings blocked the shot of McWilliams-Franklin which resulted in a shot clock violation.
Indiana (9-9) got the ball in and Tammy Sutton-Brown got a good shot off inside that didn’t go in with four seconds left. Currie rebounded the ball and sealed a much needed victory for the Mystics. “We were trying to get something on the inside. We got the ball in to Tammy and she got a good look at it. It just didn’t go our way.” Tan White.
Indiana head coach Lin Dunn said about the differences in the two halves, “I thought we played really hard in the first half. I thought we had some let ups in the second half where we relaxed at times. We matched their effort, then they would come again. At the end, Washington looked like they wanted it more than we did. They got loose balls, played a little bit harder, and got that jump ball.”
The Mystics point of concern has been consistent play. They haven’t been able to put together four strong quarters of play all season long. In order for them to contend for a WNBA title, consistency has to take place immediately.
Currie stated, “It would make things a whole lot easier if we could just put four quarters together. Seems like every game, we take off one or two quarters and we really dig ourselves a hole. But at the same time, we’re able to get back in games in one quarter. Imagine if we can put all those together, games won’t be as tough. But we’re working on that.”
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