Mystics continue home win streak, defeat Sun 84-73
The Washington Mystics (13-8) extended their home game winning streak to five games, defeating the Connecticut Sun 84-73 Sunday afternoon and closing out the regular season series 3-1 over the Sun.
The game featured only one tie in the first quarter. The Mystics held on to the lead for the rest of the game and were up by as much as 19 points in the fourth quarter. They outshot the Sun (11-10) in all three categories, shooting .490 from the field, .545 from three-point range and .848 from the free throw line. They also outrebounded Connecticut 32-29.
Four Mystics players scored in double figures with forward Stefanie Dolson leading the way with 21 points (one shy of her career high). Dolson, who had been held to single-digit scoring in the last three Mystics games, went on to shoot 6-for-9 from the field and a career high 9-for-9 from the free throw line. Guard Tayler Hill added a career high 20 points, shooting 7-for-10 from the field, 4-for-5 from three point range and 2-for-2 from the free throw line. Forwards Tierra Ruffin-Pratt and Emma Meesseman added 12 and 11 points respectively in the Mystics victory
The Sun were led by four players who also scored in double figures with center Kelsey Bone leading the way with 19 points, including 9-of-10 shooting from the free throw line. Sun forward Shekinna Stricklen added 16 points from off the bench while forward Alyssa Thomas and guard Jasmine Thomas added 14 and 10 points respectively. Thomas posted a double-double with a game-high 11 rebounds.
The Mystics host the Indiana Fever on Tuesday. The Sun head home to face the Tulsa Shock on Wednesday.
Quotes
Mystics head coach Mike Thibault
On the win and being revitalized:
“We were revitalized till the 4th quarter. I’m really happy with the win. We did a lot of great things but giving up 35 in the 4th was a little scary but we took them out of their favorite stuff. We tried to get them to go to secondary stuff. I think for the most part we did a good job. Stricklen got it going a little bit, Bone got it going late but we’ll take the win, conference win, win season series with a team that is a tie breaker, those are all huge things.”
On whether he thought the energy was there today:
“I think the energy was there. I do not know if we were very smart in the fourth quarter, but the energy level was there all the way through.”
On what it means to get a loss but to bounce back and get a win against a team they played a few days ago:
“It tells me that we play well some nights and not well the others. I do not have a handle on it yet. Obviously, we shot the ball better in the second half. “
On whether these are the type of performances he expects from Tayler Hill:
“I do not know about “expect” because I do not know what to expect with this team, but these are the ones you hope for. I do not know if we have had anybody have three consistent games in a row, and that is what I am trying to get them to do. Whatever you do, bring it every night.”
Mystics forward Tierra Ruffin-Pratt
On how her aggression impacts the team’s aggression as a whole:
“I try to be aggressive every night so I wouldn’t say we go as aggressive as I am. I think it’s more of the whole team being aggressive, so whether I start off being aggressive or somebody follows me, it’s all a matter of being aggressive.”
On team’s extended film session prior to today’s game:
“It was long but I think we learned from it. We knew we had to come in and play them back to back so I think we learned from it, to come out here today and use what we learned from it.”
On how far team is from reaching consistent potential:
“I think we have a couple more steps to go. We do a lot of great things now but I think we still have to work a lot on rebounding and little details that we slip up on, so once we get to the point where we’re all focused in and do the little things right and rebound, I think we’ll be great.”
Mystics guard Tayler Hill
On what changed in the team’s defensive approach on Alex Bentley:
“We came out with energy this game. Last game we didn’t play defense, clearly. I don’t think it was anything special that they did. It was just on out half, not focused, and I think tonight we came out focused and we really emphasized that.”
On how it feels to clinch tiebreak:
“Oh yeah, it is [a great feeling]. But we still have a lot more to accomplish.
Sun head coach Anne Donovan
Overall thoughts on game:
“Give Washington credit, they were the more aggressive team from the beginning so we were playing on our heels. From the beginning they took it at us, I thought offensively we had 22 points in the first half so offensively we were just not aggressive. Second half we got more aggressive but we didn’t have enough and we didn’t defend enough.”
Sun center Kelsey Bone
On scoring better in the second half:
“Not a whole lot because they scored 50 points in the second half. Our offense was stagnant in the first half and we were able to pick it up in the second half with our defensive against a quality team like Washington who has solid players all over the floor that can’t happen.”
On how to be more consistent moving forward:
“We’ve got to start putting quarters and halves together. We show flashes of brilliance and then we show pure and utter awfulness in flashes so somehow we’ve got to find a way to have a happy medium and play our game and follow our game plan.”
By the Numbers
Points in the Paint: Sun 22, Mystics 26
Second Chance Points: Sun 16, Mystics 6
Fastbreak Points: Sun 5, Mystics 4
Biggest Lead: Sun 0, Mystics 19
Lead Changes: 0
Times Tied: 1
