The Washington Mystics faced the WNBA champions Las Vegas Aces on Saturday at the Entertainment and Sports Arena. With rookie Aaliyah Edwards returning from injury, the Mystics stood on business against the proposed league MVP A’ja Wilson and the rest of the Aces squad.
Up until the fourth quarter, the Mystics were right there with the Aces but ultimately fell 88-77. Below are notes from the game and the Mystics postgame comments after the loss:
Game Notes
- The Mystics made 11 threes in today’s contest, marking the longest streak in franchise history of games with 10+ made threes (5 games). The Mystics have had 10+ three-pointers in eight of the last nine games.
- The Mystics shot 45.8% from three-point range while also shooting 90.9% from the free-throw line. This is the first time the Mystics have shot at least 45% from three and 90% from the free-throw line in a game this season
- This is the Mystics’ 10th-straight game with 20+ assists, continuing the longest streak in franchise history of 20+ assist games. The Mystics are third in the league this season in assists per game averaging 21.9, trailing behind the New York Liberty (23.4) and Minnesota Lynx (24.2).
- Stefanie Dolson led the team in scoring with a season-high 23 points, seven rebounds, three assists, one block, and one steal.
- This is Dolson’s fifth consecutive game with multiple threes and with 10+ points, her longest streak of games with 10+ points since the 2018 season and the sixth time in her career with a 5+ game streak of such games
- Dolson went 5-6 from the three-point line, the fourth time in her career making 5+ threes in a game
- The last time Dolson scored 20+ points prior to today’s game was on June 30, 2022
- Myisha Hines-Allen was the next highest scorer for the Mystics with 14 points and five rebounds.
- Since entering the starting lineup on 6/22, Hines-Allen is averaging 12.5 points per game, compared to her 6.8 points per game in the first 15 games of the season.
- Ariel Atkins had 13 points, five assists, and three rebounds in the game.
- Atkins is currently averaging the most assists and rebounds per game of her career, with 3.7 assists per game (2024) compared to her previous high of 2.6 assists per game (2021) and 3.9 rebounds per game (2024) compared to her previous high of 3.3 rebounds per game (2022).
- Aaliyah Edwards led the bench in scoring with nine points and seven rebounds along with one assist, one block, and one steal.
- Edwards currently ranks fifth in the WNBA among rookies with 8.8 points per game and third in rebounds among rookies with 6.3 rebounds per game. She is also one of two rookies to average more than one block per game this season (1.1) along with Cameron Brink.
- Julie Vanloo led the team with eight assists on the night while also scoring eight points.
- Vanloo currently ranks sixth in the WNBA and second among rookies with 5.4 assists per game.
- This is the 11th game this season that Vanloo has dished out 5+ assists, the third most games with 5+ assists by a rookie in franchise history, behind Tameka Johnson (18 games) and Andrea Nagy (14 games).
- Vanloo (103) now needs three assists to pass Bria Hartley (105) for the fourth-most assists in a rookie season in franchise history and 12 assists to pass Natasha Cloud (115) for third-most.