Mystics destroy Seattle in Kenlaw’s debut
By Keith Henry

WASHINGTON- With the huge amount of change going on at the moment, the Washington Mystics changed their own play 180 degrees into something pleasurable to watch. The Mystics defense showed up and never let down in an 89-57 rout of the Seattle Storm at the Verizon Center.

Washington (9-14) used their trapping defense from the start and it resulted in a season high 19 steals out of the 24 Seattle turnovers in the game. Storm guard Sue Bird said, “We sucked. We just looked really bad. (The Mystics) played really well and were aggressive offensively and defensively. Tonight for us was just one of those games where we leave Washington and thank God this game stays here. We just really played poorly.”

Taj McWilliams-Franklin said, “Coach told us, ‘If we didn’t play defense, we’d be sitting.’ So, when you hear that, there’s no ‘Maybe If I…’ No. I want to play and I know players that want to play. When you have a coach tell you that and they mean it, you don’t have any chance for mistakes. You go out and work as hard as you possibly can.”

According to newly hired head coach Jessie Kenlaw, she said the defense “comes with effort. Your defense is generated with effort and energy and we had been lacking that. And a lot of that had to do with where they were mentally. Sometimes we have to do things to force them to play. We wanted to come out trapping and just doing the simple things that forced them to be energized. We really didn’t have to do that. They were ready mentally.”

The loss ended Seattle’s seven game win streak. This was the third largest margin of defeat in the history of the Seattle franchise. The Storm lost by 33 twice in the 2000 season. They lost at Phoenix 82-49 on June 7 and at Sacramento 79-46 on August 9.

McWilliams-Franklin used the Detroit game to fuel up her play on the night, leading everyone with 22 points. She stated, “For me, going out was about the game before. As a professional, you get humiliated like that and embarrassed, that has to be on your mind. It was on my mind with the jump ball, it was on my mind when I stepped in here at 12:30 to get ready for the game, when we walked through Seattle stuff. I don’t know how much you can put out of your mind because that was us playing and it wasn’t anybody else. It’s not like you’re watching it from afar and think, ‘Hmmm, somebody got beat by 40.’ It was us and personally, I just wanted to come out today and just play as hard as I absolutely can. That was my mindset right after the game. Tears and yelling aside, next game, play as hard as I can, win or lose, so I won’t feel like that ever again. It didn’t matter who was coaching us. It was just about personal pride.”

The second quarter was the critical time where this game was put out of reach. Washington outscored Seattle 25-8 in those 10 minutes. The Mystics scored 14 points off of seven Storm turnovers. McWilliams-Franklin scored 12 points in the quarter. That included seven in the opening stretch of the quarter to extend their 23-17 first quarter lead to 31-19 with 6:53 left in the second quarter. The Mystics led Seattle 48-25 at halftime.

Seattle head coach Brian Agler said, “I think the intensity level that they played with was the difference. They played with great intensity and great urgency.”

The Mystics defense didn’t let up in the second half as they didn’t allow Seattle (15-8) to threaten them on the offensive side of the ball. Kenlaw said, “That was the message at halftime. We’ve had games before in which sometimes we get a lead and we come back and lose it. We weren’t consistent, but we want to be consistent and they responded.”