– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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WASHINGTON — While relying on rookies for production and, eventually, winning, is surely one to cause headaches for any franchise in any sport, the upside is that they might not know better that they’re in over their heads. Thus far, the Washington Mystics haven’t had as many growing pains with their rookies, and, like on Sunday afternoon, one of them drained one of the more dramatic, pressure-filled shots of the WNBA so far this season for a team that’s currently exceeding some expectations so far this season.
Rookie Sonia Citron scored a season-high 27 points, including the game-winning three-pointer with 12.2 seconds remaining in overtime as the Mystics defeated the Dallas Wings 91-88 in a thriller inside CareFiest Arena on Sunday afternoon. Washington’s other first-round draft pick, Kiki Iriafen, had 19 points and seven rebounds to go along with a career-high six assists and five steals.
In a game that had many swings of momentum — Washington held a 16-point lead in the first half before Dallas stormed back to own a 10-point advantage early in the third quarter — the final dramatic swing started when another rookie, the Wings’ Paige Bueckers, nailed a three-pointer from the left wing with 11 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the game at 84 and send the game to overtime. With the score tied at 88, the Mystics’ Shakira Austin received the ball inside on Washington’s final possession before kicking it out to a wide open Citron on the right corner, who swished home her fourth three-pointer of the game as the Mystics reclaimed the lead for good.
Arike Ogunbowale and Bueckers missed threes on Dallas’ final possession as the Wings saw their two-game winning streak snapped.
Citron made nine of her 13 shots from the field as well as reaching a career high in rebounds with 11. Austin finished with 21 points.
Ogunbowale led Dallas with 27 points, with Bueckers going for 20 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Sunday afternoon’s game, with photos taken by DC area-based photographer Terry Mayo Jr. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 44 pictures in total.
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