The Washington Mystics have three wins in their past four games, including Saturday’s convincing 97-69 victory over the Dallas Wings at home.
The wins came after 12 losses to start the season.
Now the Mystics (3-13), with their newfound confidence, will look to duplicate that effort Sunday when they host the Wings (3-12) again.
But the Wings are headed in the opposite direction. After a 3-2 start to the season, Dallas is in the midst of a 10-game losing streak.
Washington can thank its bench for Saturday’s win as the reserves scored 51 points, led by Emily Engstler’s career-high 23 points.
Stefanie Dolson, a starter who finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds, talked postgame about how proud she was of the bench.
“We are one team. We don’t have a lot of superstars,” Dolson said. “The bench, the starters, everyone is together on one team. So we’re just proud of them for coming in and doing what they do.”
Injury-plagued Dallas has a tough road ahead with a smaller roster.
Satou Sabally is out with a shoulder injury, Jaelyn Brown has an undisclosed illness and Maddy Siegrist broke a finger on her left hand during a game Monday.
“I honestly haven’t seen anything like this,” Dallas head coach Latricia Trammell said in a pregame interview this week. “It’s one of those things, true adversity, when it comes to sports. We just got that next woman up mentality.”
Washington has battled injuries as well, with Shakira Austin (hip), Brittney Sykes (foot) and Aaliyah Edwards (lower back) all out. Myisha Hines-Allen has battled a groin injury but returned to action Saturday and scored three points.
Ariel Atkins is the leading scorer for the Mystics, averaging 14.9 points per game.
The Wings continue to be led by Arike Ogunbowale, who is averaging 24.0 points per game. Dallas is 2-7 on the road this year and has not won a game since May 26 when it edged the Los Angeles Sparks 84-83.
–Field Level Media