Mystics point guard Nikki Blue shoots over the Connecticut defense. Blue led the Mystics with 13 points in Washington's 69-64 win over the sun at the Verizon Center. Picture by Keith HenryBy Keith Henry
WASHINGTON- After the first few minutes, it looked like a carbon copy of most Mystics games in terms of them falling behind. However, they snapped out of it quick, fast and in a hurry. In the fourth quarter, Connecticut nearly came back from 14 down. But the Mystics found a way to hold off the Connecticut Sun 69-64 at the Verizon Center.
Washington’s defense stepped up in a big way in the fourth quarter, forcing Connecticut to turnover the ball, a couple of them happened on shot clock violations. The defense forced the Sun to 22 three-point attempts on which they only converted three of them. “I know it looks like we shot a lot of threes, but we shot half of them because we were fighting the shot clock at the end. As a group we’re not making shots right now. When your point guard scores half your points, it’s not a good thing,” said Connecticut head coach Mike Thibault.
“We came out with the defensive aggressiveness. That was great, we needed that the whole game. So things picked up defensively and that’s what won it for us,” said Coco Miller.
The Mystics couldn’t stop guard Lindsay Whalen. She basically put the Sun on her back connecting for 33 points, tying her career high since July 24, 2007 against Detroit. Even her effort wasn’t enough to knock off the Mystics. “Well it wasn’t good enough tonight. We have to get more people to step up and make open shots. We’re rushing things and we’re fumbling the ball in the lane. That was ugly,” said Thibault.
Washington spotted Connecticut the first nine points of the game. But the Mystics answered immediately using their inside game to start the 19-7 run. Crystal Langhorne scored the last seven points of that run to give the Mystics a 19-16 lead with 23.9 seconds left. The Mystics outscored Connecticut 32-18 inside the paint. “The post players did a good job. We knew we had to be there to help our guards out. I think we did a good job with that,” said Nakia Sanford.
Washington (8-12) stayed on top the rest of the game. But of course, the Mystics had to add a little drama to the situation.
Mystics head coach Tree Rollins stated, “I wasn’t really happy with the start. We find our way midway through the first quarter and we were able to get on the right track there. We were concerned when AB (Alana Beard) went down we kind of sputtered a little bit there, but you know all in all we played hard. We couldn’t control Lindsay Whalen, which we knew we would have problems doing, but in the first half we put her on the free throw line and she was 10-10. All-in-all, it was a hard fought battle and we knew they would come out and play hard and we got the win. “
With 9:28 remaining in the fourth quarter and the Mystics comfortably ahead 61-47, Connecticut (13-8) made their move. The defense shut down the Mystics and didn’t allow a field goal for a little over eight and a half minutes. Connecticut outscored the Mystics 15-2 and looked as though they would overtake them. Whalen scored 11 of those points during the run, including a lay-up that drew the Sun to within 63-62 with 54.6 seconds left.
During the run, Tamika Whitmore drew a technical foul because she argued about a jump ball call with 3:55 remaining which she thought was a foul. Whitmore said, “We get within a bucket or whatever, you know and we get hacked, fouled and pretty much mugged and raped. And then you want to call a jump ball instead of calling a foul, which is the right call to make. I mean just be honest and fair about the situation. If it’s a foul, it’s a foul. That’s all you ask.”
Beard answered with a 17 foot jumper to extend the lead to 65-62 with 37.9 seconds left. Nikki Blue led the Mystics with 13 points while McWilliams-Franklin had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
This was a big win for the Mystics, who came off of a tough loss in Detroit the other night. Facing the top two teams in the division back-to-back will have an effect on a team. The Mystics, at least, came out of the series with one win in hand.
The Mystics have a back-to-back coming up on Friday & Saturday. They visit New York at Madison Square Garden to face the Liberty on Thursday night and then come back home to the Verizon Center to host the first place Detroit Shock on Friday night.
Rollins said, “We have to continue to get these wins, we have got some tough games coming up against the top of the league so all of the games are going to be pretty intense.”
WASHINGTON- After the first few minutes, it looked like a carbon copy of most Mystics games in terms of them falling behind. However, they snapped out of it quick, fast and in a hurry. In the fourth quarter, Connecticut nearly came back from 14 down. But the Mystics found a way to hold off the Connecticut Sun 69-64 at the Verizon Center.
Washington’s defense stepped up in a big way in the fourth quarter, forcing Connecticut to turnover the ball, a couple of them happened on shot clock violations. The defense forced the Sun to 22 three-point attempts on which they only converted three of them. “I know it looks like we shot a lot of threes, but we shot half of them because we were fighting the shot clock at the end. As a group we’re not making shots right now. When your point guard scores half your points, it’s not a good thing,” said Connecticut head coach Mike Thibault.
“We came out with the defensive aggressiveness. That was great, we needed that the whole game. So things picked up defensively and that’s what won it for us,” said Coco Miller.
The Mystics couldn’t stop guard Lindsay Whalen. She basically put the Sun on her back connecting for 33 points, tying her career high since July 24, 2007 against Detroit. Even her effort wasn’t enough to knock off the Mystics. “Well it wasn’t good enough tonight. We have to get more people to step up and make open shots. We’re rushing things and we’re fumbling the ball in the lane. That was ugly,” said Thibault.
Washington spotted Connecticut the first nine points of the game. But the Mystics answered immediately using their inside game to start the 19-7 run. Crystal Langhorne scored the last seven points of that run to give the Mystics a 19-16 lead with 23.9 seconds left. The Mystics outscored Connecticut 32-18 inside the paint. “The post players did a good job. We knew we had to be there to help our guards out. I think we did a good job with that,” said Nakia Sanford.
Washington (8-12) stayed on top the rest of the game. But of course, the Mystics had to add a little drama to the situation.
Mystics head coach Tree Rollins stated, “I wasn’t really happy with the start. We find our way midway through the first quarter and we were able to get on the right track there. We were concerned when AB (Alana Beard) went down we kind of sputtered a little bit there, but you know all in all we played hard. We couldn’t control Lindsay Whalen, which we knew we would have problems doing, but in the first half we put her on the free throw line and she was 10-10. All-in-all, it was a hard fought battle and we knew they would come out and play hard and we got the win. “
With 9:28 remaining in the fourth quarter and the Mystics comfortably ahead 61-47, Connecticut (13-8) made their move. The defense shut down the Mystics and didn’t allow a field goal for a little over eight and a half minutes. Connecticut outscored the Mystics 15-2 and looked as though they would overtake them. Whalen scored 11 of those points during the run, including a lay-up that drew the Sun to within 63-62 with 54.6 seconds left.
During the run, Tamika Whitmore drew a technical foul because she argued about a jump ball call with 3:55 remaining which she thought was a foul. Whitmore said, “We get within a bucket or whatever, you know and we get hacked, fouled and pretty much mugged and raped. And then you want to call a jump ball instead of calling a foul, which is the right call to make. I mean just be honest and fair about the situation. If it’s a foul, it’s a foul. That’s all you ask.”
Beard answered with a 17 foot jumper to extend the lead to 65-62 with 37.9 seconds left. Nikki Blue led the Mystics with 13 points while McWilliams-Franklin had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
This was a big win for the Mystics, who came off of a tough loss in Detroit the other night. Facing the top two teams in the division back-to-back will have an effect on a team. The Mystics, at least, came out of the series with one win in hand.
The Mystics have a back-to-back coming up on Friday & Saturday. They visit New York at Madison Square Garden to face the Liberty on Thursday night and then come back home to the Verizon Center to host the first place Detroit Shock on Friday night.
Rollins said, “We have to continue to get these wins, we have got some tough games coming up against the top of the league so all of the games are going to be pretty intense.”
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