The Washington Mystics carried Monday night into the kind of test that tells a team what it really is. After beating the Golden State Valkyries 90-82 and snapping a nine-game win streak, Washington now turns to the Las Vegas Aces and A'ja Wilson before the All-Star break.
That is why Aces Vs Mystics is drawing attention now. Washington is 13-12, third in the Eastern Conference and eighth overall, while Las Vegas arrives at 18-7 and as the defending WNBA champions. The game tips at 7:30 p.m. at CareFirst Arena in Southeast, D.C., just as the league heads toward the All-Star pause and then back into games on July 28.
The win over Golden State mattered beyond the scoreboard. It was Washington's first victory over the Valkyries, and it came with Kiki Iriafen delivering 23 points and 12 rebounds for her 11th double-double of the season. Sonia Citron added 17 points and six assists, and Shakira Austin finished with 15 points and a game-high 15 rebounds. For a young roster trying to stay relevant in a tight race, that is the kind of night that changes the shape of the next one.
Iriafen said she studied how Golden State guarded her the last time so she could counter it, and that reads like the difference between a good night and a repeatable one. It also helps explain what Washington is walking into now: Wilson, a 4x WNBA MVP and 3x WNBA Champion, lives around the paint, and the Mystics will have to meet her there without giving up the rebounds and second chances that kept them in control Monday. The challenge is bigger because the Aces do not come in easing up, and Wilson said they treat it as business as usual while trying not to carry last season's All-Star stumble into this one.
Washington has already shown it can survive with its young core under pressure. The next question is whether that same group can turn a breakthrough win into proof against the league's reigning standard before the break arrives.
