Washington Mystics Fan Club

After a 10-24 season, the Mystics are looking for new ideas to bring change to the club. The Mystics missed the playoffs for the last 2 seasons and team President Sheila Johnson has promised changes for the 2009 season, saying in August, “We cannot continue on this path.”

The franchise has begun with a new General Manager, Angela Taylor. Taylor replaces Linda Hargrove, who was fired as Washington’s general manager last month after a season that ended with a nine-game losing streak.

Is Taylor up to the task of turning the Mystics around?

Taylor’s resume includes the Mysitcs V.P. of Business Operations for the last 2 seasons and working in the WNBA league office for 10 years. She also played ball at Stanford, became an assistant coach there and at Texad A&M.

This could be Taylor’s dream job

As a kid she wanted to be GM of the Chicago Bulls. Up till now she’s been more on the business end of basketball.

“I’ve always wanted to be involved on the basketball side. It’s been a passion of mine.”

First Up for the New GM

Hiring in the next head coach, which will be the 11th head coach in the franchise’s 12 season history, will be first priority and should be named and signed before mid November. Taylor wants to find a coach who is “a great teacher of the game, a great communicator.”

“We want to find the best person for the job,” Taylor said. “It could be a male, it could be a female, it could be a minority, it could be a Caucasian.”

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Mystics rallied around their new interim coach Jessie Kenlaw and beat the Seattle Storm, 89-57 Sunday, ending the Storm’s 7 game winning streak.

“It feels awesome,” said Kenlaw, a former Storm assistant coach who replaced Rollins on Saturday. “I didn’t know what to expect. I feel like doing flips it feels so good.”

Alana Beard took the lead for the Mystics, matching a career high 9 assists and hit a whopping 10 3 pointers. Taj McWilliams-Franklin added 22 points.

The Mystics came out to play and took a franchise record 23 point lead by half time and hit a season high of 48 points with only 2 quarters played.

Washington also played great defense, forcing the Storm to 23 turnovers, kept them to shooting only 38% and acquired 19 steals, all the while keeping the Storm at their lowest scoring game of the season.

“Coach Kenlaw made it clear to us that if we didn’t play defense we were going to be sitting,” said McWilliams-Franklin, who had four of the team’s 19 steals. “That’s cut and dry.”

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The Washington Mystics have fired Tree Rollins as coach and promoted assistant Jessie Kenlaw to the position on an interim basis.

In a statement Saturday, general manager Linda Hargrove didn’t say what prompted the move by the Mystics, who are 8-14 and 7 1/2 games behind the first-place Detroit Shock in the Eastern Conference.

Rollins played 18 seasons in the NBA and was an assistant coach with four NBA teams. He became Mystics coach in June 2007.

Team officials appreciated Rollins’ efforts, Hargrove said, but believe Kenlaw’s energy and discipline will inspire players. She has coached in the WNBA for eight years, including stints with the Seattle Storm and Houston Comets.

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Alana Beard scored 13 of her 22 points in the fourth quarter and the Washington Mystics snapped a five-game losing streak with a 64-57 win over the Chicago Sky on Friday night.

The Mystics (3-7) earned their first road victory of the season and won for the first time since May 27.

“I feel like it’s my job to hit big shots,” Beard said. “It’s been 16 days since a win. It feels really good and takes a lot of stress off me in particular.”

Taj McWilliams-Franklin scored 14 and Beard added three assists and five rebounds. The Mystics shot 53 percent from the field (27-of-51) and overcame 22 turnovers, including eight by Beard. Chicago (3-5) lost its second straight and for the fourth time in six games. Jia Perkins led the Sky with 17 points. Candice Dupree added 11 and Chasity Melvin had 10. The Sky dropped their fourth straight to the Mystics and are 1-7 against Washington. Chicago shot 38 percent (20-of-52) and struggled at the free throw line, making only 16 of 29.

“It’s one thing if one person is missing all their free throws, but for the entire team to miss is killing us,” said Dupree, who added four steals.

Beard was hot in the final 2 minutes, going 3-for-3 from behind the arc - including a buzzer-beating shot. Beard’s third 3 gave the Mystics a 63-57 lead with 14.7 seconds left.

“Alana had been pressing the whole game,” Mystics coach Tree Rollins said. “She was able to sort it out, in the fourth quarter especially. She found that (3-point) line and she was the great player that we know Alana is. She got us the win.”

After trailing by five, Washington used a 17-5 run to take a 50-43 lead with just under nine minutes left. The Sky scored seven straight points to get even at 50 with 6:41 remaining.

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