Home Sweeeet Home!

For the first 10 minutes of tonight's game, the BasketCases were wondering if the pre-game unveiling of Crystal Langhorne's Milk Mustache ad might turn out to be the high point of the Mystics' home opener. To say the home team started out a little flat offensively might be a nice way of putting it. Another way of saying it is that this evening the Mystics spotted the visiting New York Liberty the first quarter, 9-18.

But once again, as they did on the road, the Mystics regrouped and roared back back in the second period, outscoring the Liberty 22-10, to take a slim lead into the locker room at the break, 31-28. The season-opening crowd of 10,000 Mystics fans (and approximately 158 Lib fans) were plenty revved up, and were given plenty of reasons to jump to their feet and cheer as halftime approached. After that lackluster opening stanza, finally, we had a ballgame!

Much of the Liberty's early run was fueled by the outstanding play of new Lib star Cappie Pondexter. Cappie burned the Mystics for 12 points in that first half, heading into the locker room leading all scorers. But in the second half, Katie Smith clamped down so tightly on Cappie -- holding her to a mere 2 points in those final 20 minutes -- that the BCs started thinking that maybe we should send Katie to the Gulf to try her hand at containing the oil spill. Thanks to Katie, if New York were going to win this game, they'd have to find some other player to get the job done. With Cappie dishing out assists, but struggling to score, New York inched ahead of the Mystics in the 3rd period. But with the game tied at 61 and 6:21 left to play in the 4th quarter, the Mystics' offense -- and their defense --exploded, as they finished with a 16-0 run to notch their 3rd consecutive win, 77-61.

While Katie did the defensive heavy lifting, Mo Currie and Lindsey Harding were the 1-2 offensive punches tonight. Both had big games, and each sparked runs at critical times. Lindsey led all scorers with 21 points, and Mo also outscored every individual New York player, with 18 points of her own. Lang (undoubtedly fueled by a large pre-game glass of milk) recorded a double-double (10 points, 11 boards), and Nakia Sanford also reached double figures in scoring (10). As for Katie Smith? Well, surprisingly, she was shut out in the scoring department, but more than made up for it with her defense. We were also pleased to see rookie Jacinta Monroe make her WNBA debut, scoring 2 points in four minutes off the bench. This was her first game as a professional, as she was sidelined with an ankle injury during the pre-season.

What an exciting home opener! It may not have started that way . . . but the standing ovation the team received on their final possession certainly confirmed that the fans (including the BCs) had a heck of a good time. With Alana out of the mix, the Mystics no longer have a go-to star to lead the way. But what we've seen thus far in these early season games is a well-coached total team effort, where several players contribute -- offensively, defensively or both -- and any one or more of the starters can go "off" on an opponent on any given night. That makes this team fun to watch. As we filed out of the Phone Booth, just about everybody we saw was smiling!

Washington is now 3-0, a perfect start to their 13th season. After the team's brief appearance at home, unfortunately the fans have to wait until a week from Sunday before we get to see the Mystics again (live, not Live Access). The Mystics now hit the road for a 3-game road trip, starting this Sunday at the Reservation, where they take on the Connecticut Sun at 3 PM.

Go Mystics . . . Beat the Sun!

Photo Credit: DC BasketCases