Washington wins fifth straight with road rout over San Antonio, 88-53
The Washington Mystics (11-6) extended their win streak to five in a dominating win over the San Antonio Stars (6-13) Friday night in Texas, 88-53.
Center Kia Vaughn came off the bench and led the Mystics with 15 points on 7-12 shooting from the field. Emma Meesseman added 12 points plus 11 boards and Stefanie Dolson put in 14 points on 6-10 shooting.
San Antonio’s Sophia Young-Malcolm led all scorers with 17 points. She has led the team in scoring more than any other player (six games) and the game marked her 13th game scoring in double-figures. She also added seven rebounds, four assists and two steals. Teammate Kayla McBride added 11 points.
The Mystics head to Chicago to face the Sky on Sunday. The Stars host Los Angeles on the same day.
Notes
- Washington set two new season highs in shooting categories: 57.1 percent from the field and 60.0 percent from three-point range. Their previous field-goal season high percentage was 51.7 against Indiana.
- The Mystics also tied a season-high for most points scored in the second quarter (26) and set a new season-high for most points scored in the second half.
- Washington outrebounded the Stars 42-21. The Mystics also had the edge in the paint, scoring 34 versus San Antonio’s 22.
- The Mystics saw a season-high 30 assists. They lead the league in assists per game with 18.4 Natasha Cloud led in assists finishing with seven.
- The Stars lost at home for the first time since the overtime loss to Chicago over a month ago (June 20th). They were 6-0 since that point at home.
- Danielle Robinson added four assists, tying the team high with Sophia Young-Malcolm. Robinson has led and/or tied the team high in assists 14 times this season. Prior to tonight, she ranked second in the WNBA with 5.3 assists per game.
Quotes
Stars head coach Dan Hughes
(Opening statement…)
“Not a lot went right. You’ve got to give partially the credit to them. I thought (Kia) Vaughn’s play in the first half kind of separated us off the bench. It was a day where Washington did a lot of good things and the Stars struggled.”
(On how different this game was from the last…)
“Even in the first half I thought we got some good looks and they just didn’t go through. We got some point blank layups and didn’t convert. Defensively we never really had a stretch. They were pretty confident but they had good reason to be. They made shots the whole game. Give them credit. We’re in a stretch where we’ve got to rebound from this a little bit and get to the next game. We’ve had a blow out now both ways to start the first half.”
Stars forward Kayla McBride
(On her overall thoughts of the game…)
“Yea, I think we came out and we got out toughed a little bit. Especially in the first. They kind of threw the first punch and we kept trying to throw them back and we were missing. It happens. It’s a tough league. Give credit to Washington. They played really well. The beauty of the WNBA is that we have another game in two days and that’s what we are focused on now.”
Stars forward Sophia Young-Malcolm
(On this game compared to the last game…)
“We had a good game last game and the crazy thing about the WNBA is that you can’t really go off of the last game to try to come into a new game because every game has it’s own identity. Washington came out really aggressive tonight. They had us playing back on our heels from the moment the game started. They literally seemed like they were making every shot and we were missing everything. It was just one of those games but you know the great thing about the WNBA is games come quickly. Forget about the past, have short term memory, and move on.”
Mystics head coach Mike Thibault
(On their offensive performance in the game…)
“We just really moved the ball exceptionally well. We have been the leading assist team, but tonight was as good as we have been this far. I think we have 30 assists on 36 baskets. So that’s kind of an unheard number. We are getting in a better rhythm, and part of it is we have a fully team and it really makes a difference. We can sub, and we have three or four people coming off of our bench who have started before. We are able to keep a pace going that we like right now. And when you get the ball in rhythm it make it easier to shoot the ball.”
(On their bench play…)
“Most of last year we had the leading scoring bench, and it was reversed. Stefanie (Dolson) was the bench and Kia (Vaughn) was the starter. This year it is flipped. It is a great addition to have her back. This is only her third game that she has played all year. We left her out there to almost kill her in the second half to get her conditioning back. Her performance in the first half was terrific. It is hard to find a complaint with anybody at this point tonight.”
(On their solid all-around performance tonight…)
“It was kind of one of those things you know San Antonio is a lot better than tonight. It just kind of snowballed tonight, and we rolled with it.”
(On the five game winning streak…)
“A little bit of what you saw. Moving the basketball. Our shooting percentage the first month of the season was terrible. Now for the last two and a half, three weeks, we have gotten a lot of people involved in the offense. We are shooting better both from inside and outside. And tonight we rebounded the ball better. We have been struggling with rebounding. Tonight we were better.”
Mystics center Stefanie Dolson
(On their offensive performance in the game…)
“We shoot well when we are in a good rhythm, so I think we have been executing on offense really well. And getting defensive stops into transition it just makes for easy shots, and we were able to knock them down tonight.”
(On Kia Vaughn and the bench play…)
“That is our biggest strength is our bench and just our whole team. We have one of the deepest benches in the league because no matter who goes in, they can go in and score 15 in the first half like you said. And they couldn’t stop Kia, so we just kept going to her.”
(On the key to their five game winning streak…)
“I think health. We have gotten the people that haven been hurt back, so we have a full team, full roster. So we can kind of just get in that grove that we have needed to get in. In practice we have been playing hard. We have been competitive against each other, so that we are ready for these games. And we have just been coming out and executing.”
