Ivory Latta has a name for certain Washington Mystics players who come off the bench with her. The Goon Squad, she has dubbed the reserves, and Thursday night they changed the tenor of the game when Washington was getting outpaced, being pushed around and unable to make a basket against the New York Liberty. <\/p>\n
That group especially Latta and Tianna Hawkins fueled the Mystics past the Liberty, 67-54, in Washingtons last game at Verizon Center before a nearly three-week stretch of road games begins Sunday. <\/p>\n
Tonight we set basketball back about 20 years offensively, Coach Mike Thibault said. Weve won three games already where weve shot terribly but figured out a way to win. Our bench bailed us out. <\/p>\n
Latta helped pace the team with 15 points, which ties her season high, and four three-pointers, and Hawkins had 13points and four steals in what was the lowest-scoring game of the season for both the Mystics (10-5) and the Liberty (7-6). <\/p>\n
Washington shot a meager 30.9 percent from the field and 16 percent from the three-point line. New York shot just 32.3percent and 23.1 from beyond the arc. <\/p>\n
Latta was 4 for 6 from three-point range and was the only Mystics player to make a three-pointer. <\/p>\n
[Elena Delle Donne of Washington Mystics leads WNBA Eastern Conference in all-star voting] <\/p>\n
Forward Elena Delle Donne was the only starter to score in double figures, also scoring 15 points, and pulled in a team-high nine rebounds. <\/p>\n
Were the Goon Squad, Latta said. When you get in there, you just do what you got to do to help lift a teammate or continue a run or if we just need to pick it up. We look at it as just doing our job. <\/p>\n
The win Washingtons lowest-scoring victory since beating San Antonio, 66-63, in August 2015 was also a testament to the Mystics defense. <\/p>\n
New York was missing starting guard Sugar Rodgers (lower-back injury) but started strong. The Liberty set a crisp pace and outmuscled Washington in the paint during the first quarter, ending the period with a 15-9 lead as the Mystics struggled to create any movement on offense. Washington made just one basket in the first six minutes and finished the first quarter just 4 for 17 from the field before Thibault plugged in Latta to play alongside starting point guard Tayler Hill. <\/p>\n
A lineup of Hill, Latta, Delle Donne, Hawkins and Natasha Cloud started the second quarter and closed the gap. Cloud started the period with a 13-foot jumper, and Hawkins added back-to-back baskets to tie the game at 15. Hawkins, Latta and Cloud were also much-needed aggressors on the defensive end, helping energize a defense that looked shellshocked by New Yorks physicality early on. Washington ended up with just six turnovers to New Yorks 19. <\/p>\n
It was a sense of urgency knowing that we came out a little slow and we needed to step up on defense, Delle Donne said. You cant always control if the ball is going to go in the hoop, but you can control your effort on the defensive end. Tayler disrupting, letting them start their offense a little bit further back than theyre used to it just helped us contain them. <\/p>\n
That defensive urgency also fueled the offense. In the second quarter, the Mystics shot 43.8 percent to the Libertys 23.8 percent. Washington held New York to just seven points in the third quarter, outscoring the Liberty 11-3 in the final 7:20 as it methodically built a lead. <\/p>\n
[Mystics aim to maintain consistency as they finally approach full strength] <\/p>\n
Guard Shavonte Zellous led the Liberty with 17 points, and Epiphanny Prince added 12. New Yorks leading scorer, Tina Charles, had just eight points, well below her 20.5-per game average, matching up against Delle Donne. <\/p>\n
To Thibault, the game was evidence of a team culture solidifying. He has preached defense since the day his new roster came together for the first time this spring. <\/p>\n
[Defense] is a focal point from the first day of training camp, Thibault said. And I thought for the first eight or nine games we played kind of safe defense. We played okay, but we werent aggressive enough to get as many steals and deflections. ... We won because we defended the heck out of them. So Im happy with that. <\/p>\n
The defense gets an added boost this weekend with the return of starting center Emma Meesseman. She has been playing for the Belgian national team for the past month. <\/p>\n
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Ivory Latta and the 'Goon Squad' power Mystics past Liberty - Washington Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ivory Latta has a name for certain Washington Mystics players who come off the bench with her. Continue reading