The Guru’s WNBA Roundup: Upset Night as Washington Beats Minnesota; Indiana Bests Seattle and Dallas Handles Atlanta

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

The WNBA hit week six holding the last days of the calendar month of June in a changed snapshot after four Tuesday night games far different than what had recently occurred.

Until the return of Indiana’s sensational second-year pro Caitlin Clark from a five-game absence with a quad injury that set the stage for the defending league champion New York Liberty’s non-return to next Tuesday’s Commissioner’s Cup there had been anticipation of a potential battle of unbeatens in the game through most of the month until Seattle tagged Minnesota with its first loss  followed by the Fever sending the last team with a perfect record to defeat.

Then injuries started to become widespread along with off-court controversy.

That brought us to Tuesday night and if you desired to bet on all underdogs in the four games, you would have quite a bit of added cash in your pocket ahead of Wednesday’s twin bill.

Teams that were starting to look like the next draft lottery core took down opponents that were holding hot hands though one game could be determined a toss-up in a matchup of the cellar section of the standings.

But the stunners began early in the night in the nation’s capital where the Washington Mystics (7-8) which began the day a half-game out of the eighth and final playoffs slot shocking visiting Minnesota (12-2) with the Lynx’s second loss 68-64 before a nearly full 4,200 in CareFirst Arena.

In the Southwest, Dallas (4-12), which saw a quick end to a short two-game win streak in Washington Sunday in overtime at the finish, returned home and the Wings flew over a roaring hot Atlanta (10-5) club 68-55 delighting a crowd of 6,251 at College Park Center in the suburbs on the campus of Texas-Arlington.

A game of likes saw Chicago (4-10) at home in Wintrust Arena before a Windy City crowd 8,004 handling injury-riddled Los Angeles (4-11) and dousing the Sparks 97-86.

And then at the end of the night in the Northwest, Seattle (9-6) locked down Indiana’s Caitlin Clark with six points but Aliyah Boston’s record night collecting 31 points enabled the Fever (7-7) to get back to .500 and tame a Climate Pledge Crowd of 18,343 with a 94-86 victory.

Washington Nips Minnesota

The league standings are starting to get as tight as a can of sardines.

The Lynx, who earlier Tuesday became part of a package with their NBA brother Timberwolves approved to go under new ownership, finally paid the price of missing Napheesa Collier, league-leading scorer (24.4)  with an injured back after dodging bullets to make the Western slot of next Tuesday’s Commissioner’s Cup hosting Eastern rep Indiana at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

Collier finished second to Las Vegas’ A’ja Wilson in last season’s MVP voting and is a top candidate this time around.

The loss by last season’s WNBA runners up enabled idle New York (10-3) and Phoenix (11-4) to move within 1.5 games of first with the Liberty able to move closer Wednesday playing at the expansion Golden State Valkyries (7-6) at the Chase Center in San Francisco at 10 p.m. the same time the only other game on the night’s card, airing on NBA-TV, will have last place Connecticut (2-12) at Las Vegas (6-7) which is now behind the eighth playoff berth suffering collateral damage from Tuesday’s outcome.

The Aces’ game is back at Michelob ULTRA arena after the weekend move hosting Indiana before a sellout crowd of 18,000+ was played at the T-Mobile Center and became the third, most watched WNBA regular season game ever on ESPN with a 1.7 million viewership peaking at 2.2 million.

Phoenix is idle until hosting New York Friday night.

Washington’s win flipped the Mystics ahead of ‘Vegas at eighth in a statistical tie but earning the lot with a tiebreaker.

The winners got 19 points from Shakira Austin, Eastern Conference player of the week, and moved past the Lynx on a 6-0 finish.

Austin tied it with a putback 64-64 in regulation. Minnesota used a timeout to advance the ball but fumbled the inbounds play enabling Sug Sutton to grab the loose ball and score the game-winner.

“This is all I've wanted to bring since I was a rookie,” Austin said of her play. “Just my energy on both ends and allow me to be a playmaker and learn through my mistakes.

  “Right now, I'm getting that opportunity and I'm executing. So, it's really fun out there.”

Rookie Sonia Citron scored just nine on a 3-13 night from the field for Washington ending the former Notre Dame star’s franchise record start of double-digit games at 14.

But rookie Kiki Iriafen, taken fourth overall behind Citron in the April draft, had 11 points and 11 rebounds and Sutton scored 12 points.

“We’re learning,” Washington first-year coach Sydney Johnson said. “Early in the season, we were getting destroyed on the boards, and so that was something we had to focus on.

 “Turnovers - we were throwing the ball all over the place... But as a team, just bringing that down. Just kind of adding things to our plate to be more efficient but always playing hard and always playing together. And so, I can coach that.”

Minnesota’s Alanna Smith had a career-high 26 points, while Jessica Shepard scored 12 with 15 boards.

Collier went out during a win three games ago but hasn’t returned the last two.

The Lynx had a bad shooting night and Washington forced 19 turnovers to gain 26 points.

Washington is at Las Vegas Thursday at 10 p.m. on Amazon Prime which also airs the night’s other game Los Angeles at Indiana at 7 p.m.

Indiana Tops Seattle

While Clark was held in check, 0-6 from deep, the second time in three games she failed totally long-range going 0-7 the first time and 1-10 in between, Boston made up for it while Kelsey Mitchell scored 26 with five makes on threes.

Indiana exploded on the Storm in the third quarter 30-19.

Lexie Hull scored 15 points and Damiris Dantas scored 10.

“We had the highest consistent level of Communication we’ve had all year,” Indiana coach Stephanie White said. “There was huge growth for our team and I’m proud of them.”

DeWanna Bonner, a free agent from Connecticut, missed her fifth straight game Tuesday for personal reasons and a report said she has asked for a trade.

Seattle, which got 22 points from Skylar Diggins, had an early lead in the game before Indiana began to prevail.

Nneka Ogwumike scored 16 for the Storm and had six boards, while Gabby Williams scored 11. Erica Wheeler had 20 points all in the second half.

“We were getting the stops and making them, taking the shots, we wanted them to take;” Ogwumike said. “We just weren't converting. I thought we were getting some great looks; we were sharing the basketball like we normally do. We just weren't getting them to fall.”

The Seattle crowd included retired Hall of Famer Sue Bird and retired soccer great Megan Rapinoe along with former NBA greats Isaiah Thomas and Lenny Wilkins.

Besides Indiana’s Thursday game Seattle hosts Connecticut Friday at 10 p.m. on Ion, which that night also airs the Phoenix game at 10 p.m., Atlanta hosting Minnesota at 7:30 p.m., and Golden State at 10 p.m. hosting Chicago.

Dallas Stifles Atlanta

The Wings got 21 points from Arike Ogumbowale while overall No. 1 draft pick Paige Bueckers was in double figures in her 12th straight game scoring 21 points.

Rookie Aziaha James out of N.C. State scored 11 while foreigner Li Yueru had 10 points with a personal best 15 boards.

Beueckers Sunday in her 11th game passed Caitlyn Clark and became the fastest WNBA player to reach 200 or more points and 50 or more assists. The previous mark of 12 was shared by Clark, Hall of Famer Cynthia Copper-Dyke with the former Houston franchise, and Andrea Stinson with the former Charlotte Sting.

Rhyne Howard for the visiting Dream, which was on a 9-2-win streak, scored 23 and reached her 2000th career points, while Allisha Gray scored 13 and Brionna Jones scored 12.

The Wings’ depth stood out with reserves outscoring their Atlanta equivalents 21-5.

Dallas hosts Indiana Friday while Atlanta is off until Sunday hosting New York at 3 p.m. on ESPN3.

Cardoso’s Career Night Leads Chicago to Rally Over Los Angeles

Second-year pro Kamilla Cardoso out of Dawn Staley’s South Carolina powerhouse had a personal best 27 points for the winning Sky while second year pro Angel Reese double doubled with 18 points and 17 boards.

The Sky trailed the Sparks most of the night until going ahead 74-72 with 7:23 left in the fourth quarter when they outscored the opposition 30-17.

Los Angeles has lost four straight games.

Azura Stevens gave the Sparks 21 points, Kelsey Plum scored 20, while Dearica Hamby scored 15 and Rickea Jackson scored 11.

Cardoso misses the next four games playing with her Brazilian national team in a tourney in Chile.

Courtney Vanderslice, lost for the season earlier this month with a right knee injury underwent a successful ACL operation Tuesday, the Sky said.

Chicago kept getting close but the Sparks were still up 69-67 heading into the fourth quarter.