Brown Shoots LA to Win in Opener

The WNBA season kicked off last weekend. Here is a look at some of the action.

May 6

Washington 84, Indiana 70

The Washington Mystics started their home opener with a 31-16 first quarter on their way to a 14-point win against Indiana. Elena Delle Donne scored 21 points, yanked down nine boards, dished out three assists and blocked two shots to lead Washington. Delle Donne is in her ninth season and has a career scoring average of 20.2 points in 193 games. Last season she only competed in three contests posting a career low average of 13.7 points per game and has since had the challenge of overcoming back issues. Natasha Cloud supported Delle Donne with 17 points and also led the team with six assists. The 30-year-old guard started every game last season for the first time in her career. Starting in the season opener gave Cloud her 28th straight start after going 149 games between her rookie season in 2015 to 2019 without a start for the Mystics. She didn't play at all during the 2020 season.

Mystics rookie center Shakira Austin played in her first game and was a plus 12 in just 12 minutes of action. She scored three points with three rebounds and one blocked shot.

Indiana rookie forward Nalyssa Smith posted a double-double in her first game with 13 points and 13 boards. Her college and now professional teammate center Queen Egbo shot 5-9 with 10 points and six rebounds.

Los Angeles 98, Chicago 91

Women's basketball living legend Candace Parker scored 21 points with six assists and six rebounds but she and the defending WNBA champions Chicago Sky fell short in overtime to her former team.

Los Angeles outscored Chicago 10-3 in overtime to win on its season opener on the road. Guard Jordin Canada paced LA with 21 points and eight assists. She also had two steals and four rebounds and shot a perfect 9-9 from the free-throw line. Forward Nneka Ogwumike pitched in for the Sparks with 19 points, seven rebounds and three steals. Guard Lexie Brown came off the bench to shoot the lights out against her former squad. She drained four of five threes to score 12 points while also tallying five assists. Brown was a game best plus 13. This was her first time scoring more than 10 points in a WNBA game since the 2020 season. Last season she played a limited role averaging just 1.6 points in 9.5 minutes per game over 17 contests with Chicago.

Chicago guard Dana Evans was the top scorer of the contest with 24 points. In her rookie season during 2021 she played six games with Dallas and 23 with Chicago averaging 3.1 points per game for the year.

May 7

Atlanta 66, Dallas 59

In a contest where both teams struggled to score, Atlanta travelled to Dallas and won its first game of the year behind a 10-point, 10-rebound effort from forward Cheyenne Parker.

Atlanta shot 31.7 from the field along with 25.9 from three-point land, while Dallas was 24.3 from the field including 21.1 from three. After leading 29-11 in the first quarter, Dallas stormed back to outscore the visiting 24-10 in the second. The score was 39-35 at halftime with Atlanta holding the narrow edge. Both teams went into an offensive funk in the second half but the Dream outlasted Dallas with 27-24 edge in scoring.

Atlanta rookie Rhyne Howard scored 16 points in her first professional game. She shot a rough 4-15 from the field but contributed in other ways posting four blocked shots, four assists with just one turnover to go along with two steals.

Dallas' Marina Mabrey came off of the bench with 20 points and six rebounds in 24 minutes of action. The fourth year forward shot 8-16 overall and hit three of seven attempts from long range.