Nick Wass/Associated Press - Washington’s Victoria Dunlap, making the first start of her WNBA career, goes to the basket against Seattle’s Le’coe Willingham.
Washington Mystics forward Crystal Langhorne, the team’s leading scorer, did not practice with the team in the days leading up to Sunday’s game against Seattle at Verizon Center due to back pain.
Still, players said, Langhorne’s absence during a 73-63 loss to the Storm caught them off guard. Sunday marked the first game in Langhorne’s four-year career that she missed due to injury.
“We kind of just assumed she would play,” said center Nicky Anosike, who registered 11 points and 10 rebounds. “It never crossed our minds that she wouldn’t play.”
For at least the near future, the Mystics’ season will be more an exercise in playing with what is left than in competing with what was anticipated. Coach Trudi Lacey described Langhorne’s back as “sore” and her status as “day-to-day.”
That’s the same status she’s attributed to veteran all-star guard Alana Beard (left foot sprain) for the past five weeks. After Beard missed all of last season due to an ankle tendon injury, Washington expected her return to help negate some of its offseason turnover. Beard has yet to play in a game this summer.
The Mystics (2-6) play their next five games on the road.
On Sunday, Langhorne and Beard sat in street clothes next to forward Monique Currie — who will miss the entire 2011 season due to a left knee injury — at the end of the Mystics’ bench. And together, three of the team’s best players watched their squad be out-classed by a more experienced opponent.
Washington held a slim lead for most of the first quarter. In the second quarter, however, the Mystics were outscored, 17-9, and tallied seven turnovers — half their total for the entire game.
The Mystics cut a nine-point halftime deficit to three with just less than five minutes remaining in the third quarter. Sixty-seven seconds later, Seattle (5-3) had pushed its lead to 10.
“There are just lapses that we have as a team, mental lapses where there might be times when we’re not focused, where everybody’s not on the same page or we’re trying to rush to do things,” said rookie Victoria Dunlap, who started in place of Langhorne. “Once we play together more consistently with each other, we’ll be really good.”
Anosike said Langhorne’s absence was noticeable in ways obvious and subtle. There was Langhorne’s 18.1 points per game, which would have come in handy. There also was the fact that without Langhorne on the floor, Seattle had one less focal point with which to concern itself on defense. Washington shot 31.9 percent from the field Sunday.
Dunlap learned a few hours before tip-off that she would start in Langhorne’s place, and she recorded a team-high 19 points and eight rebounds. Prior to Sunday, she had logged more than 11 minutes per game once this season; she played nearly 33 minutes against Seattle.
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