This young team is starting to become a problem for the rest of the league.
The Washington Mystics, leading the majority of the game, were left to fight until the very last millisecond (literally), to pull off an 86-85 win against the Toronto Tempo on Friday night.
It wasn’t until the final 11 seconds of the game that the Mystics ran into trouble.
Former Mystic Brittney Sykes hit a driving layup to give the Tempo a one-point lead. The game appeared to be over, until with 0.5 seconds left, Sonia Citron
snagged the jump ball won by Lauren Betts and closed the game out with a game-winning buzzer beater.
Citron ended the night with 17 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals across 34 minutes. Here’s what Citron said about her game-winning moment:
I just remember if Lauren tips it to me, I’ve got to put it up. And she did a great job winning the tip, and I got it and had to shoot it. I didn’t have a choice, and just luckily it went in.
Head coach Sydney Johnson expressed in the postgame press conference that he believed the team deserved some good luck after repeatedly fighting to the finish, without getting the results they wanted. The coach also showered praise on Citron, saying:
We want her (Citron) to shoot the ball and just keep letting it fly. We trust and believe her teammates do as well. It’s not really a bad shot that leaves her hands…just really proud of her that she’s taken to coaching, she’s a great teammate and she made a big-time shot and she’s done that before, so it’s great to celebrate that.
The last-second win also served as the best game of the season for rookie Lauren Betts, who led the team in scoring with a career-high 18 points while adding four rebounds and two steals. Since Kiki Iriafen is out day to day with a right ankle sprain, Betts saw more minutes on the floor and took advantage of the opportunity to help her team to the finish.
Citron noted that she felt Betts did everything well, from picking her spots perfectly to her aggressiveness. Citron explained:
What you guys just saw is what we see every day in practice. The whole team, the coaches, the organization, we have so much faith in her, and she continues to put in the work, so we’re not surprised she played like this. That’s Lauren.
Michaela Onyenwere also added 17 points and eight rebounds.
Toronto found its tempo near the end, rallying to come back from an 18-point deficit and staying right on the young team’s heels, attempting to turn the game around. But the saying, “It isn’t over ‘til it’s over,” rang true as the final seconds changed the outcome with Citron’s shot.
The Mystics, although the youngest team in the WNBA, have shown they can compete with the best. They have, however, developed a knack for letting games get close. Johnson said that keeping the big picture in mind has helped them learn through those moments, emphasizing after the game:
I think it’s centering ourselves in what we’re trying to do, big picture, and that is to take one of the youngest teams in the history of the league, across the finish line…these games are part of that growth, but not to lose perspective in terms of the biggest win, which is, development, development, development, individually and as a team.
For the Tempo, Marina Mabrey led all scorers with 27 points and three assists, while Brittney Sykes added 20 points, two rebounds and three assists.
Washington is looking to establish itself and shock the league as a playoff contender. With sneaky, last-second wins like these, and their ability to keep up with experienced teams, they might just be on that path.
