{"id":866937,"date":"2026-10-01T10:12:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T10:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/866937\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T10:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T10:12:09","slug":"this-is-like-our-hometown-team-mystics-fans-celebrate-despite-playoff-exit-wtop-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/866937\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018This is like our hometown team\u2019: Mystics fans celebrate despite playoff exit \u2013 WTOP News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Washington Mystics were <a href=\"https:\/\/wtop.com\/washington-mystics\/2026\/09\/allisha-gray-and-jordin-canada-lead-dream-into-wnba-semifinals-with-93-75-win-over-mystics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" title=\"eliminated\">eliminated<\/a> from the WNBA playoffs Wednesday night with a 93-75 loss to the Atlanta Dream in Game 2 of their first-round series.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But for fans who spoke with WTOP at CareFirst Arena, there was plenty worth celebrating.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Brandy Flowers attended the game and said the Mystics bring pride to D.C.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey play with so much passion, and they work so hard,\u201d she said. \u201cSo it just brings everyone out to support them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Flowers believes other teams could learn something from the Mystics\u2019 rebuilding process.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On her way to the arena, Valerie Westney, of Maryland, spoke about what the players mean to the next generation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s an inspiration to young kids,\u201d Westney said. \u201cIt\u2019s just really important for them to see women doing this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ten-year-old Olivia Johnson is one of those kids. She has been a Mystics fan since she was five. The young basketball player from Northern Virginia dreams of playing for the team.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think the team is good because they have great coaches and a lot of discipline,\u201d Olivia said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Her favorite player, Shakira Austin, finished Wednesday\u2019s game with 9 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Olivia\u2019s father, Darius, said this was their third or fourth game of the season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is one of the best fan experiences you\u2019re gonna have here in Washington, D.C.,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Holly McGinnis brought three of her five daughters from Boonsboro, Maryland.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019m like trying to teach my kids to love basketball,\u201d McGinnis said. \u201cPlus, this is like our hometown team.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">McGinnis played guard from elementary school through high school, and when WTOP asked whether she imagined as a little girl that there would be a women\u2019s professional basketball league, she laughed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNo, I started with boys,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, she can bring her daughters to watch women play at the highest level.<\/p>\n<p class=\"single-page__signature bottom\">Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up <a href=\"https:\/\/wtop.com\/newsletter-signup\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"single-page__signature bottom\">\u00a9 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Washington Mystics were eliminated from the WNBA playoffs Wednesday night with a 93-75 loss to the Atlanta&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":866938,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-866937","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\/866937","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=866937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/866938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}