Mystics' Sanford Looks to Shake Funk

Nakia Sanford had plans for this summer. She wanted to build off her breakout season in 2007, cement herself as a stalwart center for the Washington Mystics and, if everything went the way she hoped, work her way on to the WNBA all-star ballot. Lying on her stomach as athletic trainers with heating pads tried to loosen her aching legs and back during practice Friday, Sanford was farther from those goals than she ever imagined.

"I can't explain how frustrating it's been," Sanford said. "It's been really disappointing to come back like this. But everybody has a point where you hit a wall in your career and you have to just work your way through it. It's just a really difficult process."

Entering today's game against San Antonio at 1 p.m. at Verizon Center, Sanford is averaging 6.4 points and 5.9 rebounds. That's a sharp contrast with the career bests of 11 points and 7.1 rebounds she piled up last season, when she inherited the starting spot after Chasity Melvin was traded. Sanford could handle a purely statistical difference, though.

What really bothers her is getting into foul trouble like she did at the beginning of her career. The positioning and timing that allowed her to finish her career as one of Kansas's top 10 career rebounders are missing. Sanford, 32, says her body isn't able to recover as quickly as it used to.

"Every year I'd come back a little more tired, but your body finds a way to kick into another gear," Sanford said. "Now that I'm a bit older, my extra gear seems a little worn down. This is the first year that I felt it and that it showed in the way I've started the season."

Searching for a way to bring back the Sanford who before Washington's game against Seattle on June 29. He started rookie Crystal Langhorne in place of Sanford, hoping to restore energy and fervor to Sanford's game.

It wasn't punishment so much as a way to change her routine. The adjustment made little difference as all of the Mystics (6-10) came out flat and lost, 64-49. Two days later at Sacramento, though, Sanford played 26 minutes as a reserve and showed glimpses of her old self with 10 points and five rebounds, her highest point total since June 3.

"She was forcing Sacramento to make adjustments the way she made teams adjust for her last year," Rollins said, adding he was unsure whether he would continue to bring her off the bench or start her against the Silver Stars today.

Sanford doesn't care whether she starts. She just wants to make sure that the player she was against the Monarchs sticks around.

"Against [Sacramento] I felt really really good," Sanford said. "That's the first game I've felt that way in a long time. My energy level was up, my body felt good. It was the first time this season I've actually felt like myself."