
Bria Hartley was a key contributor to the Mystics’ win in their previous visit to Connecticut. (Jessica Hill/Associated Press)
Time/site | Live stream |
7 p.m. / Mohegan Sun Arena | WNBA League Pass |
Outlook: The Mystics go on the road, where they have been far more comfortable than at Verizon Center this season, for the seventh time in nine games. Washington is coming off an 83-76 loss to the Minnesota Lynx on Saturday night at home in a game it led at halftime. The reigning WNBA champion Lynx all but decided the outcome with a 19-0 run in the third quarter.
The Mystics (4-7) make their second and final trip to Uncasville, Conn., this season to face the last-place team in the Eastern Conference. In the teams’ first meeting on May 21, Washington got a season-high 24 points and a career-high seven assists from guard Tayler Hill to spark an 84-76 overtime win. Guard Bria Hartley added 16 points, six rebounds and three steals.
Hill leads Washington in scoring (15 points per game) but is shooting 34 percent, including missing 9 of 13 shots against the Lynx. The No. 4 overall pick in the 2013 draft is shooting 31 percent (21 of 68) over the last six games. All-star forward Emma Meesseman is first on the team in field goal percentage (54.5) and rebounding (6.9) and second in scoring (14.8).
Mystics Coach Mike Thibault spent his first 10 years in the league coaching the Sun. The winningest coach in WNBA history directed Connecticut to eight playoff appearances, including consecutive Eastern Conference titles in 2004 and ’05, before being dismissed in 2012. The Sun since has not been back in the postseason.
The Sun (2-8), under first-year Coach Curt Miller, is 1-4 at home. Its lone victory came over the Seattle Storm, 77-76, on Friday when forward Alyssa Thomas, Maryland’s career leader in points and rebounds, scored on a tip-in with six-tenths of a second to play. Guard Jasmine Thomas, who spent her first two years in the WNBA with the Mystics, leads Connecticut in scoring (11.7) and assists (4.7).
—