Special Contributor // Jon Marshall
Tuesday night’s matchup between the Washington Mystics and San Antonio Silver Stars couldn’t have showcased such contrasting stories. The more seasoned San Antonio is battling it out with the Minnesota Lynx for tops in the western conference. Washington has the second worst record in the league.
As one could have guessed, the team with the better story came out on top. The Silver Stars capitalized off the Mystics’ mental mistakes, turnovers and missed easy shots in their 73-67 win at the Verizon Center in D.C.
The inside presence of Crystal Langhorne and savvy play of veteran Silver Stars point guard Becky Hammon made the first half a back and forth affair. It seemed as if San Antonio would create a little breathing room after Hammon’s steal and uncontested lay-up put the Silver Stars up 27-23. This was quickly negated with Kelly Miller draining a trey.
Hammon led all scorers at halftime with 13 points as her squad went into the locker room up 37-34.
It was pretty much status quo in the third until late in the quarter. San Antonio saw their lead balloon to seven following a Danielle Adams put back and Jayne Appel lay-in to make it 51-44.
The Mystics did muster up a little momentum heading into the fourth. Rookie point guard Jasmine Thomas nailed a crowd-raising three to pull within two. DeMya Walker used a nifty up and under move down low to tie the game at 51.
San Antonio tried to create more breathing room as the fourth came to a close. Sophia Young drove baseline for a lay-up making it a 62-57 game. Washington was able to cut the lead to two after two shots from the charity stripe.
It would be all for naught after a frustrating run of missed opportunities. San Antonio made it a 67-61 game after Danielle Robinson sliced through Washington’s defense for an easy bucket.
Marrisa Coleman’s three with seven seconds left pulled the Mystics within four. Danielle Adams closed things out for the Silver Stars making both her foul shots.
Hammom led all scorers with 22 points. The Mystics had three players score in double figures. Crystal Langhorne led with 19 points and 7 rebounds. Marrisa Coleman put up 14 and Matte Ajavon scored 10.
Hammon still going strong
Twelve years into the league, Becky Hammon is showing no signs of slowing down. The 5-6 point guard out of Colorado State still displays a youthful exuberance for the game, yet schools the younger generation on point guard play.
Multiple times during the night Hammon routinely found her way into the lane against players several years younger. Coming into the game, she ranked 11th in league scoring with 15.8 points per game. Hammon was also recently named a top 15 player in WNBA history.
The list includes Lisa Leslie, Cynthia Cooper, Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, Laruen Jackson, Katie Smith,
Teresa Weatherspoon, Dawn Staley, Yolanda Griffith, Sheryl Swoopes, Cappie Pondexter, Tamkia Catchings, Tina Thompson and Ticha Penicheiro.
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