Guru’s WNBA Report: Narrow Outcomes in All Three Contests as 1.5 Games Separates Top Five Spots

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

Sunday produced the closest outcomes across the board of the WNBA 22-game shortened season caused by the Cvid-19 in terms of the three games a day card at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., near Tampa/St. Petersburg.

 

And after the weekly Monday hiatus, Tuesday begins a three-way race to the finish and with the front-running Seattle Storm’s sudden slump and the crowd at the bottom, there is a slight separation in which only 1.5 game separates the top five teams and then the sixth-place Phoenix Mercury heads a tight group all the way down to 10^th place Washington in which just 2.5 games apart differentiates in the battle for the eight playoff spots.

 

The most surprising outcome of Sunday’s three games was the Atlanta Dream picking up their third win of the season by downing Minnesota 78-75, bumping the Lynx (9-4) down to fifth, 2.5 games in front of Phoenix.

 

Minnesota came into the game off defeating Phoenix 90-80 on Friday night while Atlanta (3-11), which narrowly lost to Los Angeles 93-85 in overtime Friday night, but was mired in 11^th place.

 

Monique Billings had a double double with 16 points and 13 rebounds while Rutgers grad Betnijah Laney also had a double double with 16 points and 10 assists to bring Atlanta’s lifetime record to 9-20 against Minnesota.

 

The last game with two Atlanta players scoring double doubles was three seasons ago when the deeds were done with Layshia Clarendon, who is now with New York, and Brittney Sykes, now with Los Angeles.

 

It was Laney’s second double double of the season coming back-to-back and they are the first two in her pro career.

 

Courtney Williams, the South Florida grad who previously played for the Connecticut Sun, had 14 points, while veteran and Princeton grad Blake Dietrick threw down 13 points, the fourth time she has scored in double digits this season compared to just one all of last year.

 

The Dream had lost 10 straight and didn’t lead until the third quarter in which they scored 27 points.

 

As the stretch drive commences, it will be interesting to see what teams besides trying to stay injury and illness free also are able to keep going on their 22-game schedules that for the most part feature just one off day.

 

Atlanta second-year coach Nicki Collen said of Dietrick’s performance, “She made shots. For the most part, she didn’t turn the basketball over. She got us into action faster.

 

“Sometimes, Blake, her only trouble with the point (guard position), because people play her soft at times, she doesn’t take shots that are there. She did a good job tonight just initiating offense and then spacing away and knocking down open shots.

 

“I thought with Blake’s bench play and Mo’s second half activity, that was the difference in the game.”

 

In the closest game of the night, Phoenix got back to .500 at 7-7 while Washington, the defending league champs who have struggled after winning its first three, dropped to 10^th but still is in the playoff hunt following the Mystics’ 88-87 loss.

 

Former UConn standout Diana Taurasi, now one of the WNBA’s elder stateswomen, lit the IMG Academy court for 34 points, shooting 7-for-13 from beyond the arc for Phoenix. 

 

Former Rutgers star Kia Vaughn, a league vet who has played on New York and Washington, hammered down 16 points, shooting 7-for-9 from the field to back up Taurasi, while Bria Hartley, another former Husky, scored 11 for the Mercury, and former Notre Dame standout Skylar Diggins-Smith, who signed a free agent deal in the offseason coming from Dallas, scored 10.

 

Brianna Turner grabbed 17 rebounds for Phoenix.

 

Tiana Hawkins had 19 points for Washington, which is missing four starters from last year’s champions. Ariel Atkins had 18 points, Leilani Mitchell scored 12, Myisha Hines-Allen out of Louisville scored 10 and grabbed 13 rebounds while recently signed Rider rookie Stella Johnson, last season’s top Division I scorer in the NCAA, had another worthy performance shooting 5-for-7 from the field and scoring 12 points.

 

Johnson nailed a three-pointer before regulation time expired to bring the Mystics within a point.

 

Hartley had made it a four-point lead with a basket with 3.1 seconds left.

 

The Mercury led late in the game, though Washington got 25 points off 20 Mystics turnovers.

 

In the other contest, the Los Angeles Sparks stayed even with Las idle Vegas just.a half-game behind idle Seattle by edging the Dallas Wing 

 

 Dietrick said of the turnaround in the second half, “We were really aggressive, we were punching back, and we were making things difficult for them. That’s when the tide turn.”

 

Sylvia Fowles is still sidelined with a calf injury for Minnesota.

 

Second-year pro Naphessa Collier, the reigning rookie of the year out of UConn, had 18 points and eight rebounds, while Duke grad Lexi Brown had 17 points, and recently-graduated UConn star Crystal Dangerfield scored 14.

 

Damiris Dantas had eight points and nine rebounds.

 

In the other game of the night, Los Angeles in the fourth quarter rallied from a 10-point deficit and stayed even with idle Las Vegas just a half-game behind idle Seattle with a narrow 84-81 win over the Dallas Wing, which fell to ninth but very much still in the playoff hunt.

 

In leading the Sparks to their seventh straight win, former Tennessee sensation Candace Parker scored 22 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, while Brittney Sykes scored 23, Nneka Ogwumike scored 14, and  Chelsea Gray scored 12.

 

Parker also dealt six assists and Ogwumike dealt five.

 

On Dallas, former Notre Dame star Arike Ogunbowale scored 20 while Irish alum Marina Mabrey scored 15, and former Duke star Allisha Gray scored 13.

 

The Sparks also dedicated the day on the birthday of the late NBA great Kobe Bryant, who was killed with his daughter Gianna and several others in a tragic helicopter crash in January while commuting to his daughter’s basketball game.

 

It was two straight wins in which the Sparks had to fight back to triumph.

 

“…it’s actually good for us,” Sparks second-year coach Derek Fisher said of the two tight games. “We really need these experiences to connect to that type of mentality (Bryant’s black mamba) of outworking the opponent no matter how it looks.

 

Bryant, even more so in retirement, had become a big advocate of the WNBA.

 

“I thought we competed hard,” said Wings coach Brian Agler. “I thought we put ourselves into position and that’s what you want to do. We had our chances but didn’t have the veterans to make veterans plays and that was the difference in this game.”

 

Looking Ahead

 

On Tuesday, the Chicago Sky plays the New York Liberty looking to stay close to the top of the standings, while Las Vegas meets Dallas, and Indiana meets Seattle for the second time in less than a week after the Fever upset the Storm in their last meeting.

 

On Wednesday, Washington and Atlanta meet in a must win for both squads. That game will air on ESPN2. Los Angeles and Minnesota meet at 8 p.m. on the CBS Sports Network before the night is wrapped up with Connecticut and Phoenix meeting at 10 also on the CBS Sports Network. 

 

The Sun continue to be revitalized after losing their first five. In Saturday’s win over New York in their last outing, Alyssa Thomas had 25 points while Dwanna Bonner had 14 points and 12 rebounds.

 

Brian January scored 11.

 

And that’s the report.