The Washington Mystics will aim to extend their season-best four-game winning streak when they host the Dallas Wings on Wednesday night.
The Mystics (16-12) have not played since defeating the visiting Wings (19-11) on Friday, 81-75. Washington was powered by Shakira Austin’s 28 points and 10 rebounds and Kiki Iriafen’s 22 points and nine boards. Meanwhile, Sonia Citron scored 16 points on 10-for-10 free-throw shooting and tallied five rebounds and five assists.
Fans have started to refer to Citron, Iriafen and Austin — one of the best young cores in the WNBA — as the “CIA.” They are one of two WNBA trios where each individual averages at least 15 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists while shooting north of 45% from the floor and 68% from the free-throw line. The other group is Olivia Miles, Courtney Williams and Natasha Howard of the Minnesota Lynx.
Austin and Iriafen also rank among the top five in the league in rebounding with 9.4 and 9.2 per game, respectively.
“Stretching the floor and shooting threes is really important to me,” Iriafen said. “Spacing is also huge because it gives my post partner space to operate, and then I can find areas where I can get in the gaps and attack.”
The Mystics’ recent winning streak has built a five-game cushion over the Los Angeles Sparks for the eighth and final playoff spot. Washington is now a half-game back of the New York Liberty for seventh place.
While Washington hasn’t played since Friday, the Wings bounced back from that loss with an 83-63 home win over the Connecticut Sun on Sunday with Jessica Shepard and Arike Ogunbowale scoring 15 points apiece.
Shepard continues to enjoy a breakout season with the Wings. It’s her first year with the club after spending five seasons with the Lynx, who drafted her out of Notre Dame in 2019.
Under coach Jose Fernandez in Dallas, she’s averaging a career-best 14.7 points and a league-leading 11.8 rebounds per game. She also shoots 58.2% from the floor, third best in the WNBA, and dishes out 5.4 assists per game, which ranks 11th.
“(Shepard) spent a long time on a really deep Minnesota Lynx team and completely embraced the role they needed her to play,” Dallas point guard Paige Bueckers said. “Now she’s in Dallas with a bigger role, and she’s meant so much to our basketball team.”
Fresh off her first All-Star appearance, Shepard — who signed a two-year contract with Dallas valued at $2.05 million — is also the front-runner for the league’s Most Improved Player award and has the Wings in line to make the playoffs for the first time in three years.
–Field Level Media
