Total Eclipse of the Sun. The Mystics continued their success tonight against teams with astronomical associations, posting a decisive win over the Connecticut Sun, 91-75, in Uncasville.
The story of the first half was the young Mystics bench. While the starters stuggled early, hitting only slightly over 25% from the field, the bench, led by diva Nikki Blue's 10 first half points, took up the slack, allowing the team to enter the locker room up by 9. In fact, it was a big night for both divas. While Tamara James did most of her scoring in the second half, like Nikki B, she also finished in double figures. As Linda Hargrove said tonight, "the bench came through for us."
In the second half, it was All Alana All the Time! No doubt disappointed by her first-half performance, Alana Beard roared back in the 3rd quarter, scoring 16 consecutive points for the Mystics! By the time AB was ready to catch her breath and head to the bench (posting 20 points and leading all scorers), Washington held what proved to be an insurmountable lead.
The Mystics return from their 4-game road trip with a record of 3 and 1 (losing to the one team pretty much everyone thought they'd beat . . . go figure), are now 4 and 10 (after starting the season 0-8), and have their first winning streak of the season! In their last three wins, the Mystics have scored 106, 99, and 91 points. These two Mystics fans hope the team doesn't forget to pack that high-powered offense when they return to the Phone Booth Friday night to play the Shock.
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The BasketCases would like to thank Frank Hanrahan, the voice of the Mystics, for his shout out tonight. (Frank, we still think you should've tried Krazy Kops!)
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If you'd like to congratulate diva Nikki Blue in person for tonight's performance, you can catch her on Thursday from 4-6pm at Bloom grocery store, 20789 Great Falls Plaza in Sterling, Virginia, where she'll be greeting fans, signing autographs, and providing diva fashion advice (and perhaps also doing her shopping for the Mystics' upcoming home stand).
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Update: Not having seen the game, apparently we missed the fact that DMJ contributed to the Mystics' win in ways that didn't end up in the box score. In Mike DiMauro's column this morning in The Day.com, the Sun's Katie Douglas, disappointed with her own teammates' "softness," remarked,
“Look at DeLisha,” exasperated guard Katie Douglas was saying Tuesday night, following the Sun's rock-bottom (or maybe not) 91-75 loss to Washington at Mohegan Sun Arena.
Douglas was talking about Mystics forward DeLisha Milton-Jones. “She's out there taking people's heads off,” Douglas said. “She's a great teammate. She plays with a nastiness about her.”
posted by BasketCases @ 9:32 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
I asked before and I'll ask again... where has this been all year? Are you kidding me? A two-game winning streak, wins in four of their last six and, MOST IMPORTANTLY, just two games out of the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference! Yes, I'm thinking about the p-word! Besides beating Connecticut, the teams we, right now, have a realistic shot at catching -- New York and Chicago -- both lost, allowing us to pick up a game on them. Additionally, those two teams are slumping. Granted, I'm trying to not get too excited, lest the 'Sticks rip my heart out again with a stink bomb Friday -- only one win at the Phone Booth all summer(!) -- but, it would strike me as odd if they didn't, at the very least, give Detroit everything it can handle. The Stars & Stripes are doing it on defense and Alana is putting the team on her back, with help from the bench. It's a funny game!
1. They now understand the offense and each others strengths.
2. They have a coach who will get in their grill.
3. They are defending better.
4. If they stay hungry and keep up the intensity, playoffs are possible.
I'm opti-MYSTIC about Friday's game. For some reason, the Mystics seem to always elevate their game against Detroit. Sandford usually has big games against Detroit. The difference will be rebounding. If we can rebound, we can win.
I have to admit that I've always looked up to CT, and it's sad to see how they are handling this latest downturn. They always seemed to be a well oiled machine that didn't do anything spectacular, but did all the little things well. We'd be playing them and you'd look up at the score board and see you were down by 10 points. Then you'd wonder "how did that happen?" Now they are in panic mode, and being dogged by their press.
How about Douglas' comment about DeLisha Milton-Jones. They don't call her "D-Nasty" for nothing! I'm glad she's a Mystic!
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