WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Sparks let a golden opportunity slip by.
The Mystics (16-18) led wire to wire in this one as they seemed to make everything they put up. Not to mention that they gobbled up all the boards, too. The nation's capital came away with the win against the Sparks (16-18), 95-86.
The law of averages didn't work for the Mystics on Sunday. Normally, teams come down from shooting 60 percent. Not D.C.; they ended the game at over 59 percent from the field.
Dearica Hamby and Kelsey Plum combined for 51 points but it wasn't enough.
"Those are our two leaders," Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said about Hamby and Plum. "I thought they were great. KP did a great job getting to the bucket there to get us going. She was not going to be denied. And then I thought Dearica did a really good job on their ball screen coverage rolling. And we found her and she was tough going to the basket. But KP and D have been this way all season. They've led us when it's hard. Tonight was hard. Today was hard. And you have to give credit to Washington. I thought they played well. They executed well. It just took us that first half to really get going. And, you know, so that's disappointing, but we got to move on."
The Mystics made big trades to give more responsibility to their all-star rookie duo. And they did just that for Washington.
"(Sonia) Citron was phenomenal," Coach Roberts said. "Every time we kind of got it close and pushed, she hit a big shot. You know, they beat us."
It's no secret that defense isn't a strong suit for the Sparks.
"I thought our help rotation was a little late," Roberts summarized. "In the second half, we were better. First half, not so much. So there's a lot of things. I mean, we gave up 95 points."
The Sparks, after being down by double digits after the first period, were able to get it down to a three-point deficit in the fourth quarter. Even after a Citron barrage that saw her score seven of the next 10 Mystics points, the Sparks were within striking distance, 92-86, with a minute left. But Plum wasn't able to convert the three-pointer and Kiki Iriafen followed with a lay-up that pretty much sealed the deal.
"I think the message we learned today is we can't come out and think it's going to be easy. Not that we thought it was going to be easy but we didn't," Roberts said. "I thought in the first half they were anticipating more than we were. They were executing better than we were. They were rebounding better than we were. They had 35 rebounds. We had 15. That's a direct correlation to effort and those type of things. So come out with the intensity it takes, especially to win on the road.
"But I completely agree with you," Roberts continued. "We can't panic or think that the sky is falling. And, you know, we've had tough losses before. And we've always bounced back."
Getting 15 rebounds in a 40-minute game definitely won't get it done. And the Sparks (or any team, for that matter) can't win many games when their opponent shoots 60 percent and they don't have the ball in their possession. The Sparks shot well enough at 50 percent but the offense isn't the problem here.
Sparks do still technically hold the 9th spot at 16-18 but the Mystics win have also put them in the same record of 16-18 as the Sparks. Every remaining game is important from here on out.
The Sparks were led by Hamby with 26 points and Plum with 25. Rickea Jackson scored 17. On the other side, Citron scored 24 and seemingly stopped every Sparks rally with a big shot. Kiki Iriafen had a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Shakira Austin scored 14 points.
As Coach Roberts said, they have to move on. The next move is to go back to Los Angeles to start a four-game home stand and face the Dallas Wings on Wednesday. After that, they will have a nice five-day break.
