Freeman Coliseum – There are ugly games and then there are really ugly games. The San Antonio Stars felt the impact of their biggest loss of the season and to no ones surprise, it left a bitter taste in their mouths.
Sophia Young-Malcolm had 17 points and seven rebounds, but the Stars fell 88-53 to the Washington Mystics in front of 4,311 fans at Freeman Coliseum on Friday night.
Kayla McBride added 11 for San Antonio, who lost at home for the first time in a month. The Stars shot just 34 percent for the game and gave up 34 points in the paint.
“Not a lot went right,” Stars head coach Dan Hughes said. “You’ve got to give partially the credit to them. I thought (Kia) Vaughn’s play in the first half kind of separated us off the bench. It was a day where Washington did a lot of good things and the Stars struggled.”
San Antonio trailed by as many as 36 points in the game. They allowed the Mystics to shoot 64 percent and take a 49-27 lead into halftime. Washington began the final quarter on a 9-0 run to make it a 31-point advantage.
“Yea, I think we came out and we got out toughed a little bit,” McBride said. “Especially in the first. They kind of threw the first punch and we kept trying to throw them back and we were missing. It happens. It’s a tough league. Give credit to Washington. They played really well. The beauty of the WNBA is that we have another game in two days and that’s what we are focused on now.”
The Mystics were led by Kia Vaughn’s 15 points. Stefanie Dolson added 14 and Emma Meesseman chipped in 12 for Washington (11-6), who won their fifth straight. It is the biggest winning streak for the Mystics in five years.
“Our shooting percentage the first month of the season was terrible,” Washington head coach Mike Thibault said. “Now for the last two and a half, three weeks, we have gotten a lot of people involved in the offense. We are shooting better both from inside and outside. And tonight we rebounded the ball better.”
The Stars are now 6-13 on the season and will return to the court on Sunday afternoon when they welcome the Los Angeles Sparks to the Freeman Coliseum at 3:30 p.m.
