{"id":821476,"date":"2026-08-21T23:08:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T23:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/821476\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T23:08:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T23:08:12","slug":"young-mystics-relying-on-strong-bonds-to-improve-while-makin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/821476\/","title":{"rendered":"Young Mystics relying on strong bonds to improve while makin&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-wisiwig-body1=\"true\" class=\"txtStyle_body1 mb_$body1\">\u201cThe way that everyone\u2019s embraced me, the way that everyone\u2019s been pouring into me &#8230; I couldn\u2019t have asked for a better landing spot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-wisiwig-body1=\"true\" class=\"txtStyle_body1 mb_$body1\">Leading the way for Washington this season has been Shakira Austin, the reigning Eastern Conference player of the week. Kiki Iriafen and Sonia Citron have been just as integral.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Washington Mystics guard Rori Harmon (3) listens to head coach Sydney Johnson during the first half of a May 18 WNBA basketball game against the Dallas Wings.\" aria-hidden=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"max-w_$full max-h_[50vh] obj-fit_contain d_block mx_[auto]\" style=\"color:transparent\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/asset_3bf1c5d1-711b-4157-b1c3-6a1ad557b63f.jpg\"\/>Washington Mystics guard Rori Harmon (3) listens to head coach Sydney Johnson during the first half of a May 18 WNBA basketball game against the Dallas Wings.AP Photo\/LM Otero<\/p>\n<p data-wisiwig-body1=\"true\" class=\"txtStyle_body1 mb_$body1\">The three rank among the top 28 scorers in the league, as the Mystics are one of just four teams with at least three players on that list. The league-leading Minnesota Lynx have four, while the Indiana Fever and Atlanta Dream also have three.<\/p>\n<p data-wisiwig-body1=\"true\" class=\"txtStyle_body1 mb_$body1\">\u201cI think from the beginning we kind of knew what this team could do, and I don\u2019t think we really care about the outside noise or what other people are saying,\u201d said Citron, who leads the team with 17.1 points per game. \u201cWe just want to come in every day and show up, and just get better game by game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-wisiwig-body1=\"true\" class=\"txtStyle_body1 mb_$body1\">The Mystics went from ranking fifth in the league defensively, allowing 84.1 points per game through their first 17 contests, to ranking second over their last 15 by allowing 81.2. They also have at least one win over every team currently in playoff position.<\/p>\n<p data-wisiwig-body1=\"true\" class=\"txtStyle_body1 mb_$body1\">Austin said the team\u2019s chemistry begins in the locker room, with leadership from herself and Michaela Onyenwere, to second-year All-Stars Citron and Iriafen, to rookies who are eager to learn.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Washington Mystics forward Kiki Iriafen has been an integral part of the Washington Mystics team since joining in 2025.\" aria-hidden=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"max-w_$full max-h_[50vh] obj-fit_contain d_block mx_[auto]\" style=\"color:transparent\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/asset_d824a8bb-cfdb-4092-8a26-f004bf7668df.jpg\"\/>Washington Mystics forward Kiki Iriafen has been an integral part of the Washington Mystics team since joining in 2025.AP Photo\/LM Otero<\/p>\n<p data-wisiwig-body1=\"true\" class=\"txtStyle_body1 mb_$body1\">\u201cI think just putting all that together and not really allowing ourselves to get complacent,\u201d said Austin, who is averaging 16.3 points and 9.5 rebounds per game. \u201cSomething I will continue to repeat: no one cares about [the] last game, no one cares about our record, our streaks\u2013anything.<\/p>\n<p data-wisiwig-body1=\"true\" class=\"txtStyle_body1 mb_$body1\">\u201cIt\u2019s all about what you do in the present, and I think that\u2019s just something we continue to preach: be where our feet are and to continue to get better every day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-wisiwig-body1=\"true\" class=\"txtStyle_body1 mb_$body1\">This article was originally published by The Associated Press.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe way that everyone\u2019s embraced me, the way that everyone\u2019s been pouring into me &#8230; I couldn\u2019t have&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":821477,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-821476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=821476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/821477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=821476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=821476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=821476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}