– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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WASHINGTON — Sooner or later, Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen are going to show the physical and mental wear and tear of being a rookie in the top level of basketball. At least that’s what conventional wisdom would have us think about any rookie in the zenith of any sports league.
But maybe Citron and Iriafen are the exceptions to the rule, as they proved once again on Sunday. And sooner or later, if not right now, the rookie dynamic duo are the faces of a professional basketball resurgence in the nation’s capital.
Citron made five three-pointers on her way to 24 points while Iriafen added 18 points and 10 rebounds as the Washington Mystics put on a dominant first half before holding on to defeat the Los Angeles Sparks 95-86 inside CareFirst Arena on Sunday afternoon.
The win pulls the Mystics into a tie with the Sparks for ninth place at 16-18, with both now a half-game back of the Seattle Storm for the eighth and final playoff spot.
The fact that the Mystics are in the playoff hunt with three weeks left in the season, with two rookies as their top two scorers alongside a rookie head coach in Sydney Johnson, has made Washington one of the surprise packages in the league, but it’s now at the point where nothing their two stars on the court do should come as unexpected.
Citron’s five threes is a season and career high, while Iriafen’s 12th double-double included a franchise rookie record sixth game with at least 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Washington shot a blistering 59.3 percent (35-for-59) from the field, and opened up a 53-41 halftime lead and maintained that 12-point bulge to begin the fourth. Los Angeles mounted a spirited comeback, and Dearica Hamby’s personal 6-0 run was part of an 8-0 spurt for the Sparks that cut the Mystics’ lead to 82-79 with 6:25 remaining.
Citron answered with a basket, then later hit a three with 4:25 remaining to give the Mystics a 90-81 lead.
Hamby led Los Angeles with 26 points while Kelsey Plum added 25 as the pair shot a combined to shoot 22-for-32 from the field. The rest of the Sparks combined to make just 13-of-38 from the field (34.2 percent).
*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 46 pictures in total.
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