WNBA Washington Mystics

Mystics Update

Published on August 1, 2011 under Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Washington Mystics News Release


Mystics Recap:

The Washington Mystics fought a tough battle in each of their three games in four days last week, falling to San Antonio, New York and a heartbreaker to Indiana at the midpoint of the season. With 14 lead changes, the Mystics and Silver Stars battle ended in a 67-73 result. Crystal Langhorne nabbed seven rebounds and posted 19 points as the Mystics leading scorer. Marissa Coleman followed with 14 points, nine of which came from three-point range. Forward DeMya Walker made her Mystics debut scoring four points with two rebounds.

The Mystics' trip north to New York ended in a loss to the Liberty, 71-75, a slim margin in a game with 11 lead changes and seven ties. The Mystics had a better scoring percentage than the Liberty, shooting 50% from the field compared to New York's 47%. Langhorne and Kelly Miller were the Mystics lead scorers with 18 and 17 points respectively. Langhorne also pulled nine rebounds in the game.

Friday's game against the Indiana Fever was close up until the very last second, when the Fever took the game at the final buzzer, 59-61. Mystics guard Matee Ajavon had a spectacular game scoring 19 points with four assists. Langhorne followed with 17 points and seven rebounds.

Open Mic:

WASHINGTON MYSTICS HEAD COACH TRUDI LACEY:

Overall thoughts on the game:

"To me we won that game. We deserved to win that game; the last play didn't go our way. I've said this all season and I told the girls they play with so much heart and so much fight and so much determination and the last two games we were in. I feel we won this game, I feel like we won this game even though it didn't show up on the scoreboard, but I feel like we won this game. We will just continue to get better playing for longer stretches. Our biggest saying is to continue growing as a team and to continue to improve."

WASHINGTON MYSTICS FORWARD DEMYA WALKER:

Thoughts on the game:

"It's one of those things that if there was one more play, that's what's going through my head right now. Just one more play, one more stop, but at the end of the day every possession counts. We understand that, we know that, and now it's just putting it in action."

Game of the Week:

Washington Mystics vs. New York Liberty, Saturday, August 1st, 7:00 p.m.

As the Washington Mystics (3-14), prepare for this week's match up against the New York Liberty (10-8), the team continues to struggles with fourth quarter deficiencies and playing with a short roster. In the last matchup between the two teams, the Mystics faced a tough loss, 71-75. In the last minutes of the game, a layup from the Liberty's Kia Vaughn sealed her teams win. The Liberty currently rank third in the Eastern Conference while the Mystics are last in the East.

Liberty point guard Cappie Pondexter, who was recently named to the WNBA's Top 15 players of all time, averages 17.1 points per games and 4.8 assists. Center Kia Vaughn averages 12 points per game and 7.3 rebounds. In the last three games the Mystics have lost by no more than six points, with all three cases coming down to the last few possessions of the fourth quarter. In spite of their most recent loss Head Coach Trudi Lacey stays optimistic in her young team. "I believe the second half of the season is really going to pay off for us. The young players are getting a lot of experiences," said Lacey in a post game press conference earlier this month. With only three years of experience in the league Matee Ajavon and Crystal Langhorne have become standouts for the Mystics. Langhorne averages 18.3 points per game while Ajavon averages 14.7 points per game. Newly acquired forward DeMya Walker adds experience to the young team as she continues to settle into her new home.

Check out the Washington Mystics Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Women's National Basketball Association Stories from August 1, 2011


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central