The Washington Mystics look to end their woes away from home on Wednesday when they open a three-game road trip against the Minnesota Lynx in Minneapolis.
The Mystics (12-10) have lost their last four road contests to fall to 4-6 away from home this season.
Washington salvaged a split of its recent four-game homestand with an 84-69 victory over the Phoenix Mercury on Sunday.
Brittney Sykes and Natasha Cloud each scored 23 points in the win for the short-handed Mystics, who played without two-time WNBA MVP Elena Delle Donne (ankle) and fellow starters Ariel Atkins (ankle) and Shakira Austin (hip).
“Regardless of who we have in, who we have out, we’re figuring that part out, but right now with our numbers down and only nine, 10 players, we’ve got to get it done on the defensive end and allow our defense to lead to our offense,” Cloud said, per the Washington Post.
Cloud collected 14 points and nine assists in the Mystics’ previous encounter with the Lynx. Minnesota’s Kayla McBride, however, scored a season-high 24 points and Tiffany Mitchell converted her own rebound in the waning moments of an 80-78 victory over Washington on June 3.
That decision served as the Lynx’s first win of the season and began a stretch of nine victories in 12 games. But since that run, Minnesota has dropped four of its last five games following a 98-81 setback to the high-octane Las Vegas Aces on Saturday.
Diamond Miller scored 17 points and Napheesa Collier added 16 in the loss. McBride struggled through a difficult shooting performance to finish with 10 points, although she heated up in the fourth quarter by making three 3-pointers.
“It was important. It’s why I kept (reminding her) during the game that we needed her to find a couple, to see a couple go down,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said.
–Field Level Media
