Riquna Williams could not miss. Literally. Sanders wasn’t the only player who shot 100 percent on the day — Williams did too, and with all due respect to Sanders, her haul was much more impressive because she came off of the bench, and because four of her baskets were from three-point range.
LaToya Sanders still isn’t fully healthy. Sanders was diagnosed with anemia during her first practice with the Mystics this season, and she’s been getting iron infusions and treatments ever since. She’s been back in the lineup the past couple of weeks — and starting the past three games — but she says she’s not 100 percent yet. She still gets two iron infusions per week, and said that she is still dealing with fatigue. Still, this was her first double-double in the WNBA since 2015, so she seems to be finding her way.
Mystics’ head coach Mike Thibault is frustrated with the defensive effort he’s getting. Thibault was not specific in post-game press, but he did say that there were a few players who needed to do some soul-searching about whether or not they wanted to give a defensive effort, and said that some players will be losing playing time if they don’t get it together. It’s hard to pin-point exactly who he was talking about, especially considering how lopsided the game was for pretty much everyone, but it’s worth noting that when push came to shove in the fourth quarter, Kristi Toliver, Natasha Cloud, and Ariel Atkins barely saw any playing time. Instead, he relied primarily on Ruffin-Pratt, Monique Currie, and Tianna Hawkins.
There could be more Mystics lineup changes coming. Thibault stressed that he wouldn’t overreact to this game, since this starting line-up has been successful recently — it did get the Mystics out to a 30-point lead against Connecticut on Wednesday, after all. But he’s not pleased at all with how the last game and a half has gone, and I think there could be more line-up tweaks in the future. Ruffin-Pratt could easily get back into the rotation, and, of course, there’s no telling what will happen when Tayler Hill returns in a couple of weeks.
Kristi Toliver has to get more shots. Toliver should always have at least 10 shots in a game. Even if she doesn’t feel like she has a good shot because the Sparks’ stifling defense is all over her, she’s such a good shooter that she needs to take some chances every now and then. Her bad shots are better than most players’ good looks. But she was only 2-for-6 for six points on Friday.
Welcome to America, Maria Vadeeva. The 6’4″ 19-year-old Russian finally saw her first minute — literally — in a WNBA game, and she made it count. In 1:33, Vadeeva was 1-for-1 for 2 points. Good start.