The Mystics lost to the Dream on Wednesday afternoon, 106-89. For the Dream, Four of their starters: Angel McCoughtry, Jessica Breland, Tiffany Hayes, and Renee Montgomery all scored 21 or more points each. I don’t think there have been many games where four players score 20 or more points each, so this is definitely a first.
Both teams traded leads early, but Atlanta quickly raced to a 14 point lead in the first half and never looked back. The Mystics shot 47 percent in the first half and 41 percent overall, but Atlanta’s 60 percent shooting from the field along with a hot performance from three (11 of 18) probed to be the difference today.
Elena Delle Donne still contributes despite an off day scoring
Delle Donne scored 16 points on 5 of 14 shooting which is an off day for her. But she still grabbed nine rebounds and dished four assists. Delle Donne is averaging 2.5 assists in the 2018 season, which is a career high by a considerable margin.
LaToya Sanders leaves the game early due to facial injury
In the third quarter, the Mystics center was elbowed by McCoughtry which forced her to leave the game early. Washington would have still lost if Sanders was able to play the whole game, but she’s averaging a career high 8.9 points and 5.8 rebounds this season. If Sanders has to miss a few games, Washington could go with veteran reserve Tianna Hawkins, rookie Myisha Hines-Allen, or Krystal Thomas, who has found playing time hard to come by for much of the last month.
Other notes
- Kristi Toliver got her 1,000th career assist.
- Tayler Hill scored 10 points off the bench and shot 2 of 5 from the field. Hopefully, she scores more efficiently as the season goes on. Otherwise, it looks like Natasha Cloud may have locked up the starting shooting guard position alongside Toliver.
- And on Cloud, she scored 17 points on 7 of 11 shooting today. Many Mystics veterans like Hill and Tierra Ruffin-Pratt have struggled to be efficient scorers though they are both good defenders. Cloud didn’t shoot 35 percent from the field in each of her first three seasons. But this season, she’s making 44 percent of her shots. Really pleased with her stepping up this season.
Next Game
The Mystics host the Sky on Friday at 7 p.m. EST at Capital One Arena.