The Wings and Mystics walked into College Park Center eager to snap out of their four-game losing streaks. Both teams, having traded away key players to build for the future, faced off in a matchup filled with quite a lot of intrigue among the fans. And of course, there was a Rookie of the Year discourse to be had as well\u2014Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen going up against Paige Bueckers. But in the end, it was the Mystics\u2019 rookie duo who stepped up and proved they\u2019re the real deal. And Coach Koclanes was sympathetic towards his talisman after the game.<\/p>\n
Paige finished the game with 17 points on 5-of-9 shooting, including two 3-pointers, but that wasn\u2019t enough to help the Wings win. The Mystics\u2019 duo of Kiki Iriafen and Sonia Citron combined for 41 points, 15 rebounds, and 7 assists, leading Washington to a 91-78 victory. The Wings held a 14-point lead, but it quickly disappeared into thin air. In the post-game conference, Chris Koclanes pointed to the real reason for the loss. The Mystics had made it difficult for Paige to get shots off.<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cI think they were aggressive with her at the point of attack, you know? So, they\u2019re going to challenge other people to beat you, right? When you can bring two people to her, it\u2019s\u2014let\u2019s get her off the ball and make other people have to beat you. Then you can put her off the ball and try to get her on the move. Citron\u2019s top blocking and just being really physical makes it really hard for her to get touches\u2026 But credit to Paige that she is just going to continue to fight, continue to keep moving, and do whatever she has to do to help the team win, even if it\u2019s not getting as many shots as we\u2019d like her to get.\u201c<\/p>\n
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