SUPER BOWL 2012

It May Have Been Extremely Hot here in Washington today, but the Mystics' 3-point shooting in Seattle was even hotter. This afternoon (while "multi-tasking" at the office), the BCs (and others watching via Live Access) saw the Mystics shoot 58.8% from behind the arc . . . 10 for 17! Impressive.

With that kind of long-range accuracy, the visiting Mystics gave themselves an opportunity to knock off the defending WNBA champs in Key Arena. But, once again, they were unable to pull out the win, as the Storm prevailed, 79-71.

This time, it wasn't turnovers that sealed the Mystics' fate, it was their failure to knock down shots when they really needed them. With two minutes left in the final period, the Storm were up by only five points. The game was still winnable. But the Mystics missed five consecutive shots: four jumpers (including some good looks) and one drop-dead lay-up. So while Washington held Seattle to just three more points in those final two minutes, instead of closing the gap -- and pulling off the upset -- the Mystics fell further behind by the time the buzzer sounded.

Lang was back, that was good. But she didn't seem to be quite 100%. She finished with 10 points, but was shut out on the boards. (When has that ever happened before?) The player who led the Mystics today was Marissa. Playing 39 of the 40 minutes, Marissa put up a team-best 16 points (including 4 of 6 three-pointers), and also led Washington in rebounding with 9. Riss is now beginning to look like the WNBA player we Maryland fans thought she would be when she joined the pro league 3 summers ago. She's playing with a confidence that we haven't seen since those first few games of her rookie season, before she was hurt. Matee also finished in double-figures with 13 points, but needed 14 shots to get there. Not one of her best days.

Still, the Mystics were in the game today right up to the final couple of minutes. But despite a good effort, they drop to 2-9 on the season and remain in last place in the conference standings. Their next chance to reverse this trend comes on Friday in Phoenix, when they take on the Mercury at 10 PM ET.