Story By: Erin Zollars
Photos By: Sol Tucker
Washington, D.C–
With lots of new faces in D.C this season, no one said it was going to be easy for the Mystics, but to start the season off 0-3, no one would have thought they would have to battle out of a hole like this for the first time since 2016.
The biggest difference today for the Mystics came from the absence of both Shakira Austin and Brittany Sykes, who missed the game today with injuries.
Sykes was out with a sprained left ankle; she rolled it in Friday’s loss at Connecticut. Coach Eric Thibault called her day-to-day and said she will travel on this week’s road trip to Los Angeles, Phoenix and Seattle. He said the Mystics believe Sykes avoided anything “super serious, long term” but didn’t have a time frame for her return.
Austin, who has been on minutes restrictions after off season surgery is now listed as day to day and could return for the Los Angeles game. Both players are a huge part of this team and without either player in the line-up, it could be a long season for the Mystics.
The other problem for the Mystics was the simply could not stop the Storm push in the final minutes by with either Jewel Loyd or Skyler Diggins-Smith.
Seattle outscored Washington 22-11 in the fourth quarter, going on a 20-5 run with Loyd scoring eight points, Diggins-Smith and Victoria Vivians adding six.
Leading scorer Nneka Ogwumike missed the game after injuring an ankle injury suffered late in the Storm’s double overtime loss at Minnesota on Friday. Mercedes Russell stepped in to score eight points and led Seattle with a plus-22 rating. Ogwumike is expected to return for Seattle’s game in New York on Monday.
Washington hits the road for a match-up with Cameron Brink and the LA Sparks on Tuesday night. Hopefully they can avoid a 0-4 start to the season before coming back home to play pivotal games against Atlanta on May 29th and Chicago and Indiana the first week of June.