Comets fall to Mystics
May 25, 2008 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Houston Comets News Release
During their second trip in two weeks to the U.S. capital, the Houston Comets wrapped up game two of the regular season with a 66-69 loss to the Washington Mystics at Verizon Center. In the first quarter, at 7:09 a brief scuffle and a blow to the head from Nakia Sanford to Mwadi Mabika sent the forward down with a mild concussion and both players received technical fouls. With Hamchétou Maïga-Ba now in for Mabika, the Comets pushed to a 10-12 lead at the end of the first. At the start of the second, the Mystics' Krystal Langhorne landed a lay-up with an assist from Andrea Gardner to tie the score (12-12) for the first of three times during the quarter with a lead change officially taking place when Laurie Koehn hit a three-point shot with a pass from Alana Beard (28-27). By the end of the second, the Mystics were up by 30-27. Despite the Comets outrebounding the Mystics .666 (10) to .333 (6) in the third and the Mystics earning their biggest lead of the night (39-32), the teams ended the quarter within two points with a 47-45 lead for Washington. In the final quarter, free throw shots by Mistie Williams, Hamchétou Maïga-Ba and Tina Thompson gave three lead changes and two ties during the last 2:30 of the game. Just when it seemed the Comets could pull out the win, a personal foul by Tamecka Dixon in the final seconds of the game gave Beard the chance two shoot two and give the Mystics the final points needed to win the game.
Comets' Next Game: Home opener May 27, 7:30 p.m. CDT versus the Minnesota Lynx in Reliant Arena
Houston Comets Head Coach & General Manager Karleen Thompson
On starting the season with two losses
"Of course, a loss is never a good feeling but you have to look at the things you do well as a team and you look at the things you may not have done so well as a team. Fortunately it's only our second game and I truly believe we have a group of good players that can get it done, so we're going to go right back in the gym and work on what we need to work on."
On the team's defense
"We always want our defense to provide opportunities for our offense. We played a good 37 minutes of defense and toward the end we had a couple let-ups but we fought hard and I liked what I saw. We just need to finish the game. I mean we're playing solid games throughout but let-ups here or there are deciding the outcome of the game for us."
Comets forward Tina Thompson
On the key to the game
"Well they out rebounded us in the first game (preseason) that we played against them, so rebounding was definitely one of our keys, as well as defense. If you want to win basketball games you have to play defense."
Washington Mystics Head Coach Tree Rollins
On tonight's win
"I feel great about the victory over Houston. The wins will be tough coming. We worked hard and our bench came in and really gave us the support for the starters so everybody got in and really contributed. The only downside was we lost the rebound battle, I think by 13 or 14 and the previous games, including the exhibitions; we've been winning the rebound battle. We're going back to work on the practice court tomorrow and shoot a lot of free throws, even though our free throws are what gave us the win tonight, but I don't think that we shot a high percentage. But they counted when we needed we had our captain on the line she went in, she stood up and she made her free throws. "
On Crystal Langhorne's night
"This was her coming out game. It was great. I love her because she is such a basketball player down on the defense. She has footwork; you don't have to teach her coming into the pros, she already possesses that. She is pretty good; she just has to find her little niche on what she can do offensively especially defensively."
Coco Miller
On the game
"We played hard out there and fought to the end. We played aggressive and I could tell that we all wanted to win so badly. We were all excited (for the home opener) and it was important for us to play well in front of our fans and get away with a win, and that was a great feeling. We have the best fans in the WNBA and it was important to win for them."
Alana Beard
On the ending of the game
"When we were down by three, this team came through when it counted most and we executed and stayed disciplined."
Women's National Basketball Association Stories from May 25, 2008
- Comets fall to Mystics - Houston Comets
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