MYISHA, MYSTICS TO GO 3-0 -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

HINES-ALLEN HAS 17 IN WASHINGTON'S 89-71 WIN. 

Last night's showdown between 2-0 Washington and 2-0 Seattle last night was hyped as a contest between the WNBA's best offense (Washington) and the top defense (Seattle). The Mystics showed early on that they were a multi-player, multi-talented squad and jumped all over Seattle's defense early. To use a phrase, DC threw an umbrella of threes over any Storm front.

Going up 12-2 in the early going, the Mystics were connecting from the outside. Although Myisha Hines-Allen wasn't the architect of the early offense, she was solid on the defense and doing other key things like creating assists and grabbing rebounds that helped the Mystics roll out to a first quarter 21-14 lead and a half-time 50-32 advantage. The Storm had been reduced to a weak front that was dying out, in meteorological lingo.  

The Storm seemed to be a step slow on defense, Sue Bird wasn't flying and the Seattle run never came. 

In the second half, the emphasis slightly changed and Washington turned Hines-Allen loose inside. She ended up punishing the Seattle front line for 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds. The Storm probably should have asked Siri "how do you stop Washington?"...because whatever they were trying wasn't the answer   Just how good are Hines-Allen and Emma Meeserman inside for Washington? The score stood at 71-50 after three and Seattle turned to the bench to see if they could fire up a rally. That seemed to help, the Storm cutting the lead to 14 with 4:40 left in the contest at 74-62. 

Panic time for the Mystics? Nope, didn't happen, nothing to worry about. Washington owned the rest of the final quarter 15-9 and got the "W". 

Not enough can be said about Myisha's all-around game last night.  We watched her as "the enforcer" during her time at Louisville and she's re-assumed the role for DC. With the Chicago Sky falling in a close one to the Minnesota Lynx last night, Washington is now the only undefeated team (3-0) in the WNBA. 

As Hines-Allen left the court last night, someone or something caught her attention and the viewers got to see that beautiful Hines-Allen smile. She has earned the right to smile and be happy about "life in the wubble" so far. Let's hope the smiles keep coming for "Mooks".  She's put in the work and deserves to reap the rewards. 

So far, Myisha is the fifth leading scorer in the league with a 20.0 points per game average. 

Washington takes on the Chicago Sky next on Saturday.

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In other WNBA action, the Minnesota Lynx knocked off Chicago in a thriller 83-81. The L.A. Sparks kept the Connecticut Sun winless with a 81-76 win.  

Tonight, Kylee Shook and Jazmine Jones look for their first WNBA win when they face Atlanta. This 6 p.m. game is on NBA TV, so if that's part of your cable, dish or Internet subscription package, have fun and enjoy it. Is it just me, but do the Liberty need to get Sabrina Ionescu to focus a little more on her teammates instead of trying to set scoring records? I mean, sure, she's great and all that but the Liberty are 0-2, so she can't be all that effective. Still a rookie, though. Plenty of time to adapt and put the needs of the team in front of the needs of the one. . 

 The late game (10 p.m.) has Angel and the Las Vegas Aces against Phoenix. This one will be on CBS Sports Network. I'm redy for some more McCoughtry magic, how about you? 

Good luck to our Cardinal WBB greats tonight!  

Have a fun Friday. 

paulie

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