WASHINGTON — Early in the fourth quarter of Thursday’s game against the Phoenix Mercury, an errant Phoenix 3-pointer led to a scramble for the rebound. Six players touched or leaped for the ball as it bounced around, but eventually Washington Mystics forward Emily Engstler got on the floor and wrested away possession. The Mystics turned that into a layup for forward Alysha Clark, which cut their deficit to 4 points.
Engstler’s rebound and Clark’s finish were the type of plays that helped the Mystics do something head coach Sydney Johnson has wanted throughout the season: Make it a one- or two-possession game in the fourth quarter, so they have a chance to close out the game late.
The Mystics would make it a one-possession game with 76 seconds left on a layup by rookie forward Kiki Iriafen. But they missed four shots in the final 36 seconds to fall 75-69.
The loss was the Mystics’ eighth straight, dropping them to 16-26 this season. Before this stretch, they hadn’t lost more than four in a row all season, despite being by far the WNBA’s youngest team until the trade deadline. In fact, they were hovering near .500 for most of the year and were a surprise contender for a playoff spot until an Aug. 30 loss to the Golden State Valkyries — the sixth in their skid — eliminated them.
In some games during the losing streak, the Mystics just couldn’t close quite well enough. Three of the eight games were decided by 6 points or fewer.
In other games, the Mystics didn’t play like themselves for long stretches. For example, they lost two games by double digits to the Connecticut Sun, who were in last place at the time, to begin the streak.
“We have to come in every day and do the same thing over and over and [stay] consistent with it,” point guard Sug Sutton told The Next before Thursday’s game. “I think we kind of fell from that … throughout the season. Some days we weren’t ourselves.”
Though the last eight games have all been losses, the differences in how those games have felt have loomed large for the rebuilding Mystics. That’s because they’ve evaluated themselves all season not on results, but on the daily habits that are central to Johnson’s culture. Those habits include playing hard, getting better, communicating, being humble and finding joy.
“There were a couple games through this stretch that we didn’t like how [they] felt,” Clark told reporters after Thursday’s loss. “And even tonight, it’s hard. We’re professionals. We want to win, but it’s how you lose. I can walk away from this saying I gave everything, that my team gave everything.”
Along with the Connecticut games, the Mystics seemed to lose their way in a 26-point loss to the New York Liberty on Aug. 28 and the 37-point loss to the Valkyries two days later. The Liberty shot 50.0% overall and 47.6% from 3-point range, getting 24 points off the Mystics’ turnovers. Similarly, the Valkyries shot 55.0% overall and 38.7% from deep while scoring 19 points off turnovers.
“We might bend, but we can’t break,” Johnson told reporters on Aug. 31. “We’ve had, in particular, two really tough outings. … I thought [in] New York … we came close to breaking. I just didn’t feel like we were very connected.”
The Mystics played much better in a 3-point loss to the Los Angeles Sparks on Aug. 31, holding the Sparks to 40.0% shooting from the field and 27.8% from deep. That prompted Johnson to say he was “elated to see the team that I recognize.”
The Mystics showed up well again on Thursday against the Mercury, who entered the day tied for third in the WNBA with a 26-14 record.
“I just loved how we competed,” Johnson said postgame. “Losing is not what we want to do. … [But] we fought, and that’s kind of been who we’ve been for like 90% of our games. So just super proud of that.”
Since the trade deadline, and especially since the Mystics were eliminated from the playoffs, the Mystics have experimented more with lineups and schemes. For example, they’ve had All-Star rookie Sonia Citron initiate the offense more, to get the ball in her hands sooner and more easily.
“Sonia has an amazing feel for the game where she’s going to make the right play,” player development lead Clinton Crouch told The Next on Saturday. “And for players that make the right play, you want to find ways to put the ball into their hands to make the game easier for everyone else. So … now she gets to see the game from a different lens, a different angle, and … I think it’s going to be really good for her career long-term.”
The Mystics have also played zone defense on 10.9% of opponents’ halfcourt possessions in their last 11 games. That’s up from 2.6% in the previous 31 games, according to Synergy Sports.
“We want to be disruptive defensively,” Johnson said before Thursday’s game. “[We] haven’t been able to do that for various reasons, some of it being what comes after that if we don’t disrupt. We haven’t really reacted well defensively. And so part of a zone, frankly, is finding a way to just break rhythm. … That’s where that comes from is defensively really not just always trying to guard people’s playbook, but disrupt it.”
On Thursday, the Mystics played zone on 11 of the Mercury’s 71 halfcourt possessions, or 15.5% of the time. Phoenix head coach Nate Tibbetts told reporters postgame that it was the most zone his team had seen all year. And though the Mercury made 13 3-pointers, he acknowledged that the zone “just kind of slowed us down a little bit.”
“You could see it sometimes,” Mercury guard Sami Whitcomb added. “Obviously, the ball gets stagnant a bit, probably doesn’t move as much as we want it to. And I think sometimes you fall into shooting threes. … A lot of them were great looks, but I think sometimes you settle for those.”
The Mystics weren’t expected to make the playoffs this season, and they’ve focused on growth and development all year as they rebuild under Johnson and first-year general manager Jamila Wideman. But being eliminated from the playoffs still stung.
“Everybody’s upset about it, from coaches [to] players,” Sutton said on Thursday.
Responding to being eliminated and continuing to battle is also a new challenge for the Mystics and their culture.
“We realize that we’re out of playoff contention,” Johnson said. “And so for us, it’s really zeroing in on making sure that our focus doesn’t wane in terms of how we want to go about it. It’s very easy to just kind of [think], ‘Oh, what are we playing for?’ And I think that’s a real test for us in terms of making sure we have pro habits. … Whether it’s practice, whether it’s your rehab, your skill development, it all needs to stay the same.”
So far, several players and coaches say that things have stayed the same and that they’re competing just as hard every day — motivated in part by wanting to snap the losing streak.
“I just want to win,” Citron told The Next before Thursday’s game.
“I love the game. I’m playing for this team,” Sutton added. “I’m playing for us to get better. I’m playing to get better individually as a point guard, and whatever happens, I’m just trying to do this for our team and trying to continue to pull us together.”
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The leadership of the Mystics’ two veterans, Clark and center Stefanie Dolson, has been crucial for moving past the disappointment and finding purpose in the rest of the season. Both players have emphasized looking at how the Mystics are playing, not just what the scoreboard says. They’ve also talked about how much these games matter for the team’s growth and future success.
“What you do this year, you’re planting the seeds for two, three years down the line,” Clark said. “So that way, when … they’re sitting here two years from now and you’re talking to them about going to the Finals or whatever, they’re going to be able to look back at this season and be like, ‘We planted good seeds. We planted culture seeds.’”
One of those seeds is full accountability, which Clark said is something the three championship teams she has been on have had in common. On those teams — the 2018 and 2020 Seattle Storm and 2023 Las Vegas Aces — any player could hold a teammate accountable and there would be a positive response.
“When you can have that level of accountability from one through 12, it makes a huge difference,” Clark said. “… So being able to kind of just remind [the Mystics players] of that, I think, has been pretty cool.”
The Mystics have two games left, against the Indiana Fever on Sunday and against the Liberty on Tuesday. Losing those games could give them better odds at the top pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft. Winning would keep them from ending the season on a 10-game losing streak. But regardless of the outcome, how they play in these last two games will matter most, as every possession left is a chance to learn for the future.
“It’s tough. Losing sucks for everybody,” Iriafen told reporters on Aug. 31, after the streak hit seven games. “… [But] you kind of have to go through these growing pains to get to the top of the mountain. So I think I’m just shifting my perspective to that. Like, all of this is happening for a reason. There’s so much that we can learn from this.”
Monumental Sports and Entertainment, the group that owns the Washington Mystics, holds a minority stake in The Next. The Next’s editorial operations are entirely independent of Monumental and all other business partners.
