Mystics Mount Comeback, Fall Short to Sky, 84-77

If the Washington Mystics hoped to get the 2011 season off to a good start, they certainly have had their troubles, which included another slow start today in their home opener, but another game played without their top two players in Alana Beard and Monique Curry, who are both out injured.

The absense of two of the leaders on the team was strongly felt from the start in this game and if it wasn’t for veteran leadership on the court by Kelly Miller and Matee Ajavon, the Mystics may have made the scoreboard look even worse.  Miller and Ajavon combined for 39 of the 77 Mystics points in the game.

“We have a few things to figure out with our line-ups,” said Mystics Head Coach Trudi Lacey. ” As all of you can see, we are really short on the bench and we are asking alot of these girls in the absence of Alana and Monique. We put ourselves in to deep today starting out, and against a team like Chicago, it would have been hard to come back and win. We made it a much better game in the second half and showed what we can do with the girls we do have healthy.”

Epiphanny Prince scored 20 points for the Sky (2-1), who shot 60 percent from the field. Chicago never trailed, led 51-33 at halftime and 66-57 after three quarters.