Mystics' Defense Shuts Down Storm Again 69-58

Seattle’s starters struggled mightily against D.C.

(Washington, D.C.) - For a second time this season, the Washington Mystics (12-11) defense gave the Seattle Storm (15-11) a ton of fits. Despite a hot start by the road team, things would fall off a cliff again for the Storm. After they led 29-21 with around six minutes to go in the first half, the Mystics used a 17-2 run to take a seven-point lead. Seattle went scoreless for the first five minutes of the third quarter, as Washington extended their lead to 15 before Seattle scored again. The Storm trailed by 19 until Dominique Malonga and most of Seattle’s bench helped rally the team to cut the deficit down to four late in the fourth quarter. Once the starters came back in again, well rested, they were unable to produce, and the Mystics closed out on a 9-2 run over the game’s final five minutes to win the game 69-58.

This was a particularly bad game for Skylar Diggins and Gabby Williams. The two combined for seven points on 3-17 FG shooting. You have to give a lot of credit to Brittney Sykes and rookie Sonia Citron, who put the clamps down and locked up Seattle’s best two perimeter players.

Nneka Ogwumike was the Storm’s best scorer, leading the team with 18 points. However, she was held scoreless in the 2nd half. Erica Wheeler finished with 13 points and a game-high six assists, but wasn’t the most efficient (5-14 FG). Overall, the starters just didn’t have it in this game.

Dominique Malonga was one of the lone bright spots from Saturday’s contest. She followed up her double-double performance with eight points and nine rebounds in 14 minutes against Washington. She also had two blocks and two steals. She did pick up four fouls with a few in quick succession that limited her ability to stay on the court in the first half.

Washington Mystics

Washington used a balanced attack with four players scoring in double figures. Shakira Austin led the way with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Sug Sutton scored 13 points. Both Brittney Sykes and Sonia Citron scored 11 points each, but it was their defense that had the larger impact on this game.

The trio of Citron, Austin, and Kiki Iriafen combined for 32 rebounds as all three of them had double-digit rebounds. That allowed the Mystics to out-rebound the Storm 44-28. Seattle did a better job on the offensive glass, as they only out-rebounded Seattle 8-7 in O-Boards, but they did have a 7-2 advantage in second-chance points.

The home team also outshot Seattle 44% (29-66 FG) to 33% (22-67 FG). Neither team shot well from beyond the arc, both making less than 25% of their three-point attempts. D.C. was more dominant in the paint, outscoring Seattle 42-30 inside the key.

Game Breakdown

Shakira Austin scored against Ezi and was fouled for the AND1. Nneka Ogwumike was fouled and made both free throws. Brittney Sykes knocked down a corner three to go up 6-2. Ogwumike tied the game at 6-6. Stefanie Dolson hit an open short-corner jumper. Ogwumike knocked down a corner three-pointer. Seattle found Skylar cutting to the rim for two.

Back-to-back scores by the Mystics, including an open-court steal and layup by Emily Engstler. Seattle responded with Skylar Diggins' corner three. Dominique Malonga and Kiki Iriafen exchanged baskets. Nneka was fouled on a layup and converted the AND1. The Storm led 21-16 at the end of the first.

Shakira Austin forced back-to-back fouls against Dominique Malonga. The second led to an AND1 opportunity for Austin that she converted. Alysha Clark got a steal and found Gabby Williams in transition for the layup. Ezi Magbegor then weaved through the lane past Austin for two to put the Storm back ahead by six at 25-19. Wheeler found Magbegor on the pick-and-roll for two. That forced the Mystics’ Coach, Sydney Johnson, to call a timeout.

Magbegor was making a big impact on both ends. She got a big block against Kiki Iriafen. Then hit a pick-and-pop shot on the other end. Brittney Sykes faked Erica Wheeler out of her socks for the easy turnaround jumper from just a few feet from the rim. Sug Sutton scored on a drive past Diggins to cut Seattle’s lead down to four at 29-25.

The Mystics went on a 17-2 run. A lot of it came from bad turnovers. A couple of bad ones by Erica Wheeler that led to easy baskets for Washington. Sug Sutton did a lot of the damage, scoring seven points in the quarter, and Sonia Citron added five more. Magbegor and Iriafen swapped layups. Ogwumike scored right at the halftime buzzer. Seattle trailed D.C. 40-35 at the midway point.

Sutton knocked down a pull-up jumper to put the Mystics up seven. D.C. would extend that lead to 13. Seattle was stuck on 35 points and held scoreless for the first five minutes of the third period. Washington scored the first 10 points and led 50-35.

Lexie Brown stopped the bleeding by knocking down a three-pointer. Jade Melbourne got to the rim. Back-to-back baskets from Austin gave the Mystics their largest lead of the game, up 19 at 58-39. Erica Wheeler hit two huge three-pointers to close out the quarter as Seattle trailed 60-45.

Thanks to Dominique Malonga and Erica Wheeler, the Storm were able to rally from down 19 to a four-point deficit at 60-56. Coach Quinn rode the hot hands with the bench for most of the 4th quarter. Alysha Clark didn’t score, but her defense helped Seattle close the gap. The bench did their best to make it a game.

Malonga got an open-court steal and score. Tiffany Mitchell was fouled and made one of two from the line. Dom was fouled and made both free throws to cut the Storm’s deficit down to single digits. Another big basket from Malonga and a layup by Wheeler made it a four-point game at 60-56 with five minutes to go.

With the bench unit (and Wheeler) completely exhausted from rallying the team from down 19 to make it a winnable game, Coach Quinn subbed the starters back in. Sadly, the starters couldn’t execute down the stretch. They couldn’t hit shots and didn’t defend well. That’s not on the coach. That’s on the starters for not playing well when given plenty of rest and opportunities.

The Mystics outscored the Storm 9-2 to end the game as they defeated Seattle 69-58.

Final Box Score

Up Next

The Seattle Storm (15-11) travel to Connecticut to face the Sun (3-20) on Monday, July 28th at 4:00 PM. Seattle has a 2-1 record against the Sun this season, but lost the last time the two teams met in Connecticut by a final score of 93-83. The Storm were outscored 27-9 in the 4th quarter of that game.

Part 2

Part 2 will include additional thoughts and discussion from Saturday’s game against the Washington Mystics. It’ll be sent exclusively to paid subscribers tomorrow morning.

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