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Washington Mystics’ bid to clinch back-to-back away wins will have to wait. Fresh off a back-and -forth win over the Indiana Fever, the Mystics were in line to showcase their dominance against a Paige Bueckers-led Dallas Wings. But as reality set in, all they got was their largest defeat of the season, a 23-point blowout.

It marked the first away defeat for the Mystics in the season. The team had defeated Toronto and the Fever on the road in their initial stretch of the season. However, the Wings game was a punishment for them, as they looked like a shadow of the dominant selves we saw in the Fever game, when they defeated a Caitlin Clark-led offense in overtime.

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As soon as the game tipped off, the Mystics never looked comfortable. With Arike Ogunbowale and Paige Bueckers, the Wings scored back-to-back two-pointers and got an early lead. From that point, Dallas never gave the lead away, restricting the Mystics to just 9 minutes in the first quarter.

The Mystics fared well in the second quarter. With Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen, Washington managed 19 points in the quarter and didn’t allow the lead to slip away from them.

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But even then, the Mystics were still plagued by the Wings’ first-quarter dominance. Along with that, frequent turnovers, a total of 18 in the game, doomed the Mystics. The third quarter was the final nail in the coffin, as they allowed the Wings to score 28 points, with Bueckers contributing 5 points and 3 assists.

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Washington went into the fourth quarter trailing by 20 points. They did manage a 23-point quarter, but the Wings struck back with 26 of their own, stifling hopes for late Mystics heroics. Washington lost 69-92, leaving its fans outraged, who didn’t mince words in their criticism of the performance.

Georgia Amoore’s Callouts and Poor Two-Way Outing Echo for Mystics After Defeat to Paige Bueckers-Led Dallas

“Highest scorer on the team is 12 lol y’all are to passive 💯 & the coach set y’all up 1Q with that lineup smdh. Save that lineup for when you’re up 20? Maybe,” wrote a fan.

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The offensive production was nowhere to be found from the Mystics’ players on the night. While the Wings saw five of their players record double figures in points, including Paige Bueckers’ team-high 18 points and Arike Ogunbowale’s 16 points, only two Mystics players had 10+ points in the game.

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Shakira Austin led the charge with 12 points, while rookie Lauren Betts had 11. This lack of contribution from the other players was always going to make it difficult for the team to win against a stacked Dallas team. And that’s exactly what turned out to be the case on the night.

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“No defense, no offensive rebounds, and 50000 turnovers.
Please let us know when you decide to take a night off,” stated one comment.

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“That was brutal. Kept waiting for them to wake up… They just fell into a deeper sleep as the game went on,” chimed in another.

The Mystics’ offensive rebounding was disastrous, as they recorded just 2 in the entire game. Furthermore, they also had 18 turnovers in the game, allowing the Wings to score 23 points off them. All of it contributed massively to the Mystics’ dismal night. Furthermore, they also fumbled massively on the boards, where they got outrebounded 24-31.

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It needs to be understood that Mystics’ shooting from the field was quite substantial. In fact, the team recorded a better percentage than the Wings in the game, 49% to Dallas’ 47%.

However, the Mystics also allowed the Wings to take 70 shots, exposing their inability to make defensive stops. But that wasn’t the end of it for the fans, who were particularly discontent with one player.

“Georgia Amoore is a f*****g bust. It won’t be too much longer before she gets waived,” remarked another.

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Several fans, including this one, weren’t buying Georgia Amoore’s performance at all. The 2025 draft first-round pick logged 24 minutes in the game as a starter, recording just 3 points with 1 of 6 from the field.

And in the broader sense, the fans’ disappointment is quite justified. Being one of their starters on the team, the Mystics community expects much more than her performance against Dallas. Notably, for Amoore, the game against the Wings wasn’t a one-off.

In her last three games, Amoore hasn’t produced well either. She averaged 6.7 points on 35% from the field, along with 4.7 assists per game, and the fans were quick to highlight it after the Wings’ loss, even advising star forward Kiki Iriafen to move to a different team.

“Kiki should request a trade. This team can s*** with Georgia 😂,” summed up one fan.

The defeat against Paige Bueckers and the Dallas Wings is a major wake-up call for the Washington Mystics. Although they are 2-2 so far this season, they will fall in the standings if they don’t get their offensive production and defensive balance in check. They do have a few days to reflect on this blowout, as their next game against the Seattle Storm is 5 days away.

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Soumik Bhattacharya

444 Articles

Soumik Bhattacharya is a staff writer at EssentiallySports covering the NBA and WNBA. He specializes in day-to-day league developments with a focus on roster movement and injury updates. Soumik has covered multiple sports, including tennis and volleyball, and reported extensively on the 2024 Paris Olympics, highlighted by the men’s 100m final featuring Noah Lyles and Kishane Thompson.

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Siddharth Rawat

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