After Losing Their Season Opener in Connecticut, the Mystics returned home for practice, only to face another "loss" -- even before tonight's tip-off in Atlanta.

Yesterday, Steve Yanda of the Washington Post reported that Alana was still sidelined with her foot problems and, to make matters worse, rookie Center Ta'Shia Phillips suffered an ankle/tendon injury during Tuesday's practice. Today it was confirmed that neither will play this evening against the Dream.

With Mo, Alana and now Ta'Shia all relegated to the bench, the Mystics were left with only 8 active players. So, invoking a WNBA rule for just such an "emergency," Trudi Lacey applied to the league office for a hardship exception to the 11-player limit.

The good news for the Mystics is the league office approved Trudi's request. And so, this afternoon, the Mystics announced the signing of former Connecuticut Sun 6'1" Forward Kerri Gardin.

No reflection on Kerri, but frankly, the BCs were hoping that Trudi would give last season's first-round draft pick, Jacinta Monroe, another opportunity to perform in the WNBA. Having spent so much time injured last season, Jacinta's never really had a chance to show what she can do. Plus, at 6'5", Jacinta could provide the Mystics with some height . . . and that could be very important tonight and down the road.

In any event, once either Alana or Ta'Shia is reactivated, Kerri (or some other Mystics player) must be released. So this is a temporary, emergency roster move only. But it means that the Mystics will at least have 9 players capable of playing tonight when they meet the Dream in a nationally televised game (ESPN2) at 7 PM.