Sonia Citron Drops 26 in Season Opening Win for Washington Mystics, BUT It Was Not Pretty!

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:01]Man, oh man, a W. It doesn't matter how you get it, but a win is a win is a win is a win. The Washington Mystics are winners in their season opener, 68-65 against the Toronto Temple up in Toronto.

[00:00:19]Yo, it wasn't pretty.

[00:00:23]It was brutal at times.

[00:00:26]But at the end of the day, the Washington Mystics held up with the win on the road to start the season and open up 1 and 0.

[00:00:36]Let's talk about it, but before we do, hit the intro.

[00:00:45]>> [music] [music] [music] >> Welcome back everyone to another edition of Washington Mystics Unfiltered powered by Come On Now, the podcast. I am your host Rudy Rodriguez. Show my hit that like button and subscribe to the channel. It would mean so very much to me.

[00:01:09]If you were on the live stream tonight, man, it was [clears throat] an interesting one. I do my best to keep it entertaining, to have y'all enjoy it, cuz it is tough at times to watch something like that.

[00:01:27]I mean, it it's tough.

[00:01:30]It's tough.

[00:01:32]And uh yeah, it was a rough It was a rough watch.

[00:01:38]To say the least, it was a rough rough watch.

[00:01:43]But I will tell you this, >> [clears throat] >> it's a lot more enjoyable to learn after a win than to learn after a loss.

[00:01:56]Sonya Sotomayor goes for 26 points, nine of 12, three of six from three to lead the Mystics.

[00:02:05]Shakira Austin, who had not played a single second of preseason basketball, started the game and went six of 13 with 11 rebounds, while Kiki Iriafen went went for 12 points on five of nine and 16 rebounds. She was a glass eater tonight.

[00:02:25]A shocking occurrence, Lauren Betts, it wasn't pretty.

[00:02:33]Uh I'm Yo, you're you're going to get the real from me. I picked Lauren Betts to win Rookie of the Year. She looked good in preseason. I said she's number one pick. I stand on it. I still think she should have started the game.

[00:02:46]I'mma be real.

[00:02:48]>> [clears throat] >> She looked tentative, uncomfortable.

[00:02:55]And I think there's a number of reasons for that, and we'll talk about that, but they got the job done.

[00:03:00]You got 64 of the 68 points from the starters.

[00:03:04]Cassandra Prosper started.

[00:03:06]Their second round pick started. I I I was shocked. My Georgia Amor started.

[00:03:12]But in the end of the game, Rory Harmon was on that court.

[00:03:16]Rory Harmon was on the court and Lucy Olsen was on the court.

[00:03:21]Lauren Betts, 0 for 4. She missed four layups, three layups uncontested layups.

[00:03:28]A fourth one got blocked somehow she brought it down, and she grabbed three offensive rebounds on her missed layups.

[00:03:37]But listen, and she had five rebounds, but she was bad.

[00:03:41]Uh there was some times where she had post position and she was screaming for the ball, and they didn't get her the ball.

[00:03:49]You have got to establish a post player early, and that's why when you bring someone like her off the bench, you don't really get to establish a post presence with her because she's on the bench.

[00:04:02]So, I think that's something they're going to look at and work on.

[00:04:06]I would much rather see them start Kiki Iriafen at the small forward position instead of Cassandra Prosper.

[00:04:13]Cuz that one didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. You only got two points out of Prosper. She fouled out. This was a foul-a-thon. The WNBA players got exactly what they wanted. They wanted everything called, and tonight everything got called.

[00:04:28]The Mystics got called for 28 fouls. The Temple got called for 26 fouls.

[00:04:35]And >> [clears throat] >> it was a very, very ugly game, to say the least.

[00:04:43]Myisha Hines-Allen led with all scorers and led Toronto with 27 points, but she was six of 18. She was brutal from the floor. She lived at the free throw line.

[00:04:53]She was getting gift after gift after gift from the free throw line. Flailing, flopping, dying bird stuff. Like, she baited so many calls on things that were not fouls.

[00:05:07]Brittney Sykes had 14. She was four of 18. So, you had a combination of your two best players going 10 for 36.

[00:05:15]And then they got eight out of Myisha Hines-Allen, got seven out of Laura Duh Skye Tee.

[00:05:21]And then the million-dollar Temi Fagbenle was utterly horrendous.

[00:05:26]She's not good.

[00:05:28]Four turnovers, and she doesn't even really handle the ball.

[00:05:32]It was an ugly game.

[00:05:34]The Temple shot 27% from the field, 20% from three.

[00:05:40]They stayed in the game taking 35 free throws. They lived at the free throw line. 26 of 35. While the Mystics missed damn near half of their free throws, 13 of 22. Mystics out rebound 40 437. Turnovers were 18 16. Mystics had 18 turnovers. Um Um Georgia Amore at point they're going to have to look at that, man, cuz uh she's not a starter in me in my opinion. And I know it's just one game in, but I had a feeling she could shoot, man. She She She hit two threes. She was two of seven.

[00:06:19]But she was two of nine from the floor.

[00:06:20]Riquna Williams only took two shots, but she she had two assists, but you you see a different a better command of the offense. Defensively, she had three steals.

[00:06:29]She's tough on defense, so tough.

[00:06:32]But Georgia Amore just lollipops a lot of passes.

[00:06:35]She stops dribbling. She picks up her dribble way too far from the rim. She dribbles herself into into double teams and traps. Bad turnovers. Soft lofting passes.

[00:06:47]Just not good point guard play.

[00:06:52]Just not good point guard play.

[00:06:54]Angela Dugalić off the bench, she was okay, two points. Alex Wilson off the bench, she had two points. She's the 32-year-old rookie, but I thought she was solid. I thought defensively she was very solid. Lucy Olsen played 10 minutes, but she and she didn't score, but she played in the last few minutes of the game. She was in there when after Cassandra Prosper fouled out, so she played very important minutes.

[00:07:18]But not having Courtney Williams on this team, I think clearly hurts. Cuz they don't have any offensive punch off the bench right now.

[00:07:27]It's one game, and we're not going to overreact, but you have to look at what happened. They got nothing off the bench, four points. And Lauren Betts, once she missed those layups they really didn't give her the give her another shot. I thought she got pulled way too fast in the second quarter and she got pulled way too fast in the third quarter. I thought she got pulled way too fast.

[00:07:48]This game was a low-scoring affair.

[00:07:52]17-13 at after one, 37-30 at the half.

[00:07:58]Um >> [clears throat] >> 51-47 end of three and you got a final of 68-65. Only one team scored 20 points in any quarter and that was the second when Washington scored 20.

[00:08:12]These are two teams offensively that need some work.

[00:08:16]But look, you got to expect it. I expected this from the Mystics. They're young and they're dumb and they make a lot of mistakes.

[00:08:25]I'll give you an example. They led by five and I thought some of the official and I'm not a a blamer of officials, but they called everything.

[00:08:33]Even stuff that didn't happen.

[00:08:35]There was a flagrant foul called on Kiki Iriafen where she grabs the rebound and brings her arms straight up and just turns. And this girl Jazmine Jones is literally leaning into her and she turns and her elbow hits this girl in the face, but it wasn't like she swung an elbow. She just turned.

[00:08:55]You can't even turn and they call that a flagrant foul and it changes the game.

[00:09:04]It absolutely changes the game. It was 54 49 at that point in the fourth quarter.

[00:09:14]I mean, it's 54-49 and you call that with 6 and 1/2 to go.

[00:09:21]Sorry, with less than 6 and 1/2 to go with 5 minutes to go.

[00:09:26]Massive flop. She gets two free throws.

[00:09:29]She makes them both. It's a two-point game and then they get a then they get a foul again and it's a and then it's a a two-point game. It was a 54 54-52.

[00:09:40]No, I'm sorry. They make four straight free throws, so it's 54-53.

[00:09:44]Shakira Austin hits a hits a bucket to give them a lead, but then she misses a free throw. Keep the Keep the lead 56-53.

[00:09:51]And that changed the game. It made it close the rest of the way. Then Marina Mabrey gets a a free throw. Uh then she hits a three to give them their first lead from from early in the game, 57-56.

[00:10:01]And then look, Washington got the lead right back. Sonya had a layup.

[00:10:06]Um then they get another layup from Aerial Powers on an offensive board.

[00:10:11]Uh It got down to 60-58. Citron gets a layup on an assist from Harmon and and a and one makes it 63-58.

[00:10:20]But yo, and but Juskaite hits a three from the from the corner after it was 63-58.

[00:10:27]Hits a three from the corner. This is Mind you, this is where This is where the dumb stuff happens. So, it's 63-58.

[00:10:35]Sonya Citron has the ball with a chance to go up seven. And she turns the ball over. Her dribble Her handle was so weak. She literally let them trap her and take the ball from her. She didn't even pick it up. She just let them take it from her. It was It was really weak. That leads to a That leads to a wide open layup by Nyaira Sabally. Next possession, Shakira Austin, clear offensive foul on a moving screen. She's complaining about it, says it's a terrible call. It was not a terrible call. It was a good call. It was a clear moving screen. They tie the game up on a three from Laura Juskaite to make it 63 all. But hey, they respond.

[00:11:14]Kiki Iriafen gets a gets a rebound. Uh I'm sorry. Was she a Kiki Iriafen gets fouled. Actually, let me see where here. Kiki Iriafen gets fouled um on a shooting foul. She makes one of two free throws. Mabrey takes a bad three-point shot.

[00:11:29]And then another then misses another four-footer.

[00:11:33]But then they get all these they get all these rebounds and Maybury makes both free throws to make it 65-64, Temple.

[00:11:42]Now, that was another one of the Maybury flop jobs to me. Complete flop jobs.

[00:11:50]Mystics actually come and score I'm I'm sorry, then they get a foul on the Temple.

[00:11:55]Shakira Austin has her arm grabbed by Sabally. She makes both free throws this time for a one-point lead. And then Brittney Sykes takes a very, very ill-advised three from 24 ft out with 11 seconds to go that she misses.

[00:12:09]Austin rebounds the ball, hits both free throws.

[00:12:13]On the next possession, Myisha Maybury gets caught in a jump ball, has a temper tantrum. She had multiple temper tantrums. She's the queen of the temper tantrum.

[00:12:22]And the Mystics come away with the W.

[00:12:25]Just some early feedback on the team.

[00:12:28]I think Lauren Betts has got to play more.

[00:12:31]If you're not going to start her, fine, but she's got to play more. And when she gets in the game, you've got to get her involved. She's still a 6'7" center.

[00:12:38]She's got to get the ball in the post.

[00:12:41]Give her an opportunity to make make something happen. They did today. She blew it. She flat blew it. But I still think you pulled her way too fast.

[00:12:49]Um Shakira Austin has one move.

[00:12:53]It's a spin. She literally does the same move every single time. Dribble, dribble, dribble, spin off. She does it every single time. Her her her her game is obvious.

[00:13:04]She had a decent She had a a good game, I would say, but her her offensive skills are very, very obvious.

[00:13:10]No perimeter shot at all.

[00:13:12]Um This team can't shoot realistically.

[00:13:17]They can't shoot from the perimeter.

[00:13:20]And that's going to be a struggle.

[00:13:21]You're going to need Sonya Citron to probably take She took six threes today.

[00:13:26]She might have to take 10.

[00:13:29]Seriously, she might have to take 10.

[00:13:32]Because they need more threat from the from the perimeter. They need more of a threat.

[00:13:36]Uh Citron stepped up. She stepped up, man.

[00:13:40]You got to give her credit. She stepped up big time.

[00:13:44]Rory Harmon is the point guard.

[00:13:49]I don't know who starts on Sunday, but I think we can all see that Rory Harmon is the better of the two point guards.

[00:13:57]She doesn't dribble into trouble. She's way faster than Amora in my opinion from what I see.

[00:14:03]She doesn't force really all that much. Amora just very very lofty with passes.

[00:14:12]You got to get stuff off the bench.

[00:14:15]You need stuff off the bench.

[00:14:18]But hey, man, end of the day, they won the game.

[00:14:21]They got the dub.

[00:14:22]They're one and oh.

[00:14:24]They play on Sunday against the Liberty on Mother's Day at 3:00 p.m.

[00:14:28]We will not have a live for that game.

[00:14:31]I will tell you that right now. We will not have a live.

[00:14:35]Uh I can't I can't in good conscience be on Mother's Day at my mom's house doing a live when I got to cook the darn meal.

[00:14:42]>> [laughter] >> Okay? So, yeah, that's not going to happen, unfortunately, but I will be back um for the game after that against Indiana on the 15th.

[00:14:54]Um maybe I'll talk to Ben about doing a joint.

[00:14:58]Since you know, I am uh Maybe I'll talk to Ben about doing a joint. Maybe maybe not. I don't know. I know he turns his into a private, so uh a members-only thing. And I'm not I'm not turning live streams all my live streams into members-only stuff, so.

[00:15:16]That's it for now, man. I appreciate everyone who jumped on board the live stream tonight. It was a fun time.

[00:15:21]Definitely uh I I did my best to keep it as interesting as possible.

[00:15:26]Cuz that was a rough game to watch.

[00:15:31]But that's all I got, man. Give me your thoughts in the comments. What did you think about the performance?

[00:15:36]Let me know your thoughts, man. I appreciate it.

[00:15:39]That's all for now. This is Washington Mystics Unfiltered powered by Come on Now the podcast. Come on now.