The 2016 WNBA season was the 19th season for the Washington Mystics of the Women's National Basketball Association. The season began at home versus the Washington Mystics on May 14, 2016. The Mystics would go on to lose their opening game 76–87. Their losing streak extended to three games before the Mystics got their first win of the season on May 21, 2016, 84–76, over the Connecticut Sun. They continued their winning ways with a 84–82 overtime victory in Seattle. They lost their final game of the season to finish May 2–4. The Mystics then lost back-to-back games against the Chicago Sky to open June. Their fortunes improved after that as they went 5–1 in their next six games. Their only loss came against the Minnesota Lynx. They won a triple overtime game against Connecticut over that stretch, and also defeated Atlanta twice. The streak was broken with a 91–79 loss to Phoenix. The Mystics won their next two games to close out June with a 7–4 record. The two game winning streak was not extended as they opened July with an overtime loss in Chicago. Their season took a turn for the worse from there as they lost their next six straight games. They lost to San Antonio, New York, and Phoenix by single digits, but lose their other three games by double digits. The worst loss of the stretch was a twenty-nine point loss at Seattle. The Mystics went into the Olympic break with a 9–15 overall record. They played two games in August after the Olympic break where they defeated Indiana and lost to San Antonio. They won two out of their first three games in September, defeating Dallas and Chicago. They had an outside chance of qualifying for the playoffs, but ended September on a 1–4 stretch. Their only win came against New York while they lost to Seattle, Indiana, Atlanta, and Connecticut.
The Mystics finished the season 13–21 and only mustered four wins after June 29. They finished sixth in the Eastern Conference and did not qualify for the playoffs. Their thirteen wins were their worst since the 2012 season.
Transactions
WNBA draft
Round Pick Player Nationality School/Team/Country 1 7 Kahleah Copper Rutgers 2 19 Lia Galdeira Washington State 3 31 Danaejah Grant St. John's
Trades/Roster Changes DateDetails February 3, 2016 Signed F LaToya Sanders March 8, 2016 Extended Emma Meesseman
Roster
Source:Source:
Game log
Preseason
|- style="background:#fcc;" | 1 | May 6 | Indiana | L 69–89 | Kahleah Copper (13) | Copper, Dolson, Vaughn (6) | Cloud, Vaughn (3) | Capital One Arena2,072 | 0–1 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 2 | May 8 | @ Minnesota | W 85–68 | Tayler Hill (18) | Zoi Dimitrakou (5) | Tierra Ruffin-Pratt (5) | Mayo Civic Center4,524 | 1–1
Regular season
|- style="background:#fcc;" | 1 | May 14 | New York | L 76–87 | Tayler Hill (20) | Tayler Hill (8) | Natasha Cloud (4) | Capital One Arena11,579 | 0–1 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 2 | May 18 | Dallas | L 77–87 | Tayler Hill (20) | Cloud, Meesseman (7) | Bria Hartley (5) | Capital One Arena5,618 | 0–2 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 3 | May 20 | Los Angeles | L 67–97 | Emma Meesseman (13) | Emma Meesseman (11) | Bria Hartley (7) | Capital One Arena7,807 | 0–3 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 4 | May 21 | @ Connecticut | W 84–76 | Tayler Hill (24) | Bria Hartley (6) | Tayler Hill (7) | Mohegan Sun Arena6,022 | 1–3 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 5 | May 26 | @ Seattle | W 84–82 (OT) | Emma Meesseman (19) | Emma Meesseman (13) | Tierra Ruffin-Pratt (6) | KeyArena5,239 | 2–3 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 6 | May 29 | @ Phoenix | L 77–93 | Stefanie Dolson (14) | Dolson, Hill (6) | Natasha Cloud (3) | Talking Stick Resort Arena9,228 | 2–4
|- style="background:#fcc;" | 7 | June 1 | Chicago | L 78–86 | Stefanie Dolson (14) | Kahleah Copper (7) | Tierra Ruffin-Pratt (6) | Capital One Arena5,649 | 2–5 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 8 | June 3 | @ Chicago | L 72–98 | Emma Meesseman (13) | Emma Meesseman (5) | Natasha Cloud (4) | Allstate Arena5,489 | 2–6 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 9 | June 5 | @ Atlanta | W 86–79 | Tayler Hill (17) | Stefanie Dolson (12) | Cloud, Dolson, Hill (3) | Philips Arena3,611 | 3–6 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 10 | June 8 | @ Dallas | W 87–79 | Emma Meesseman (23) | Emma Meesseman (12) | Cloud, Latta, Ruffin-Pratt (3) | College Park Center4,177 | 4–6 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 11 | June 11 | Minnesota | L 76–83 | Emma Meesseman (19) | Emma Meesseman (7) | Tayler Hill (6) | Capital One Arena7,751 | 4–7 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 12 | June 14 | @ Connecticut | W 109–106 (3OT) | Emma Meesseman (23) | Kia Vaughn (7) | Natasha Cloud (6) | Mohegan Sun Arena4,442 | 5–7 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 13 | June 18 | Atlanta | W 95–65 | Tayler Hill (15) | Kia Vaughn (8) | Stefanie Dolson (4) | Capital One Arena6,977 | 6–7 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 14 | June 22 | Indiana | W 76–62 | Tayler Hill (16) | Natasha Cloud (6) | Meesseman, Ruffin-Pratt (3) | Capital One Arena4,430 | 7–7 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 15 | June 24 | Phoenix | L 79–91 | Cloud, Hill (18) | Stefanie Dolson (7) | Natasha Cloud (5) | Capital One Arena5,136 | 7–8 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 16 | June 26 | Minnesota | W 87–63 | Emma Meesseman (20) | Stefanie Dolson (7) | Tayler Hill (5) | Capital One Arena6,322 | 8–8 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 17 | June 29 | San Antonio | W 84–67 | Meesseman, Ruffin-Pratt (14) | Stefanie Dolson (7) | Tierra Ruffin-Pratt (5) | Capital One Arena6,314 | 9–8
|- style="background:#fcc;" | 18 | July 1 | @ Chicago | L 84–86 (OT) | Tayler Hill (25) | Tierra Ruffin-Pratt (8) | Emma Meesseman (5) | Allstate Arena5,320 | 9–9 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 19 | July 6 | @ San Antonio | L 70–77 | Tayler Hill (14) | Stefanie Dolson (7) | Tierra Ruffin-Pratt (4) | AT&T Center3,701 | 9–10 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 20 | July 10 | @ Los Angeles | L 82–93 | Emma Meesseman (24) | Emma Meesseman (7) | Emma Meesseman (6) | Staples Center19,076 | 9–11 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 21 | July 13 | @ Phoenix | L 74–78 | Emma Meesseman (22) | Kahleah Copper (7) | Copper, Hartley, Hill, Latta, Ruffin-Pratt (3) | Talking Stick Resort Arena10,628 | 9–12 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 22 | July 15 | @ Seattle | L 51–80 | Emma Meesseman (16) | Emma Meesseman (10) | Tayler Hill (5) | KeyArena9,686 | 9–13 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 23 | July 20 | New York | L 81–88 | Emma Meesseman (20) | Dolson, Vaughn (6) | Cloud, Latta (6) | Capital One Arena12,778 | 9–14 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 24 | July 22 | Los Angeles | L 75–95 | Emma Meesseman (16) | Kahleah Copper (5) | Latta, Ruffin-Pratt (4) | Capital One Arena5,455 | 9–15
|- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 25 | August 27 | @ Indiana | W 92–69 | Tayler Hill (18) | Tierra Ruffin-Pratt (7) | Natasha Cloud (5) | Bankers Life Fieldhouse8,081 | 10–15 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 26 | August 28 | San Antonio | L 74–85 | Tayler Hill (26) | Tierra Ruffin-Pratt (8) | Natasha Cloud (5) | Capital One Arena5,509 | 10–16
|- style="background:#fcc;" | 27 | September 2 | @ Minnesota | L 69–75 | Tayler Hill (15) | Natasha Cloud (6) | Natasha Cloud (7) | Target Center7,523 | 10–17 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 28 | September 4 | @ Dallas | W 88–83 | Tayler Hill (25) | Ruffin-Pratt, Vaughn (6) | Tierra Ruffin-Pratt (4) | College Park Center5,162 | 11–17 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 29 | September 7 | Chicago | W 118–81 | Tayler Hill (21) | Emma Meesseman (8) | Natasha Cloud (7) | Capital One Arena5,373 | 12–17 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 30 | September 9 | Seattle | L 76–81 | Emma Meesseman (15) | Stefanie Dolson (8) | Natasha Cloud (5) | Capital One Arena5,564 | 12–18 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 31 | September 11 | Indiana | L 73–80 | Emma Meesseman (19) | Ruffin-Pratt, Vaughn (5) | Natasha Cloud (8) | Capital One Arena6,542 | 12–19 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 32 | September 13 | @ New York | W 75–62 | Stefanie Dolson (23) | Dolson, Meesseman (7) | Cloud, Dolson (4) | Madison Square Garden8,345 | 13–19 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 33 | September 15 | @ Atlanta | L 91–94 | Hill, Meesseman (20) | Emma Meesseman (10) | Natasha Cloud (7) | Philips Arena4,404 | 13–21 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 34 | September 18 | Connecticut | L 78–87 | Dolson, Meesseman (18) | Kahleah Copper (7) | Meesseman, Ruffin-Pratt (4) | Capital One Arena8,991 | 13–21
Standings
Statistics
Regular season
Source:
Player GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG Tayler Hill 32 32 29.3 34.8% 35.1% 82.9% 2.6 2.9 1.1 0.1 15.4 Emma Meesseman 34 34 29.3 53.3% 44.8% 80.0% 5.6 2.3 1.2 0.7 15.2 Tierra Ruffin-Pratt 32 31 24.4 36.9% 32.0% 74.7% 4.5 2.6 1.0 0.3 7.3 Natasha Cloud 31 28 24.3 34.8% 33.8% 75.4% 3.0 3.8 0.8 0.1 5.7 Stefanie Dolson 34 31 22.5 48.2% 30.0% 84.3% 4.7 1.1 0.4 0.9 9.3 Ivory Latta 22 2 20.8 33.1% 30.5% 90.9% 1.7 1.9 0.4 0.0 8.3 Kia Vaughn 34 4 19.8 50.3% — 75.0% 4.3 0.6 0.6 0.5 6.3 LaToya Sanders 4 0 17.3 50.0% — 84.6% 3.0 0.3 0.8 2.5 7.3 Bria Hartley 24 5 16.9 37.6% 36.2% 80.0% 2.0 2.3 0.4 — 6.5 Kahleah Copper 30 3 16.2 41.7% 46.7% 68.3% 3.1 0.8 0.5 0.1 6.2 Leilani Mitchell 10 0 16.1 43.5% 35.5% 80.0% 1.7 1.9 0.1 — 5.9 Tianna Hawkins 24 0 10.5 49.4% 50.0% 85.7% 2.5 0.4 0.2 0.2 4.7 Ally Malott 23 0 7.8 30.6% 31.3% 81.8% 1.1 0.4 0.3 0.1 2.1 Zoi Dimitrakou 2 0 5.5 33.3% 50.0% — 0.5 0.5 — — 1.5 Jamie Weisner 7 0 3.6 44.% 50.0% 100.0% 0.4 0.3 — — 1.7
Awards and honors
Recipient Award Date Awarded Ref. Emma Meesseman Eastern Conference Player of the Week June 13
References
External links The Official Site of the Washington Mystics