Sydney Wiese gets hot, then leaves game with sprained ankle originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
It appeared Washington had finally found some offensive support for Tina Charles and Ariel Atkins against Connecticut on Friday. New acquisition Sydney Wiese – a 3-point specialist formerly of the Sparks – began her night on a tear. Her first four shots went up, all of them were threes and all went down.
But for Wiese, what began as a hot-shooting night ended with her needing help off the court. Midway through the third quarter while covering Briann January, Wiese awkwardly overextended her right knee, causing her to roll her ankle.
Initially, it is diagnosed as a high ankle sprain. She was unable to put any weight on her right leg, requiring support on both sides to get to the locker room. According to head coach Mike Thibault, Wiese said it was the same ankle she rolled in 2020 that caused her to miss time with Los Angeles.
“It’s a sprained ankle. The degree I’m not sure,” Thibault said postgame. “She seemed to indicate that it’s the same ankle she sprained a year ago in the summer so I’m sure she’s gonna be sore. We won’t know maybe for a couple days how quickly she responds and throwing in plane flight into it doesn’t help, but luckily, we don’t have to play for a bit.”
Most of the team was positive and suggested the injury was not as severe as it appeared on television. With seven days in-between games for the Mystics, there will be time for her to recover from the sprain.
Offensively, the Mystics have struggled to have a balance across their team. Through the first five games of the season, there were only four instances where a Mystics player not named Charles or Atkins reached double figures. Wiese became the fifth and Myisha Hines-Allen the sixth in Washington’s 86-81 loss to the Sun.
By far Wiese’s 12 points on 4-for-6 overall shooting was the best performance of the short season for her. The Mystics traded for her two days before their season opener and after only four games she was moved into the starting lineup. Still, the offensive production had been about what one would expect from a newcomer while Charles averaged 26.7 points through the Mystics’ first six games.
“She stretches the floor, she’s a great shooter, she’s smart, has a high basketball IQ,” Charles said on how Wiese impacts the game. “Especially with her just being thrown into the lineup just getting traded from L.A., so she definitely is someone who stretches the floor.”
In Mohegan Sun, the Mystics finally saw how she can factor into their offense. Thibault’s up-tempo, 3-point heavy system is ideal for a long-ball specialist who is a career 40% 3-point shooter. All but three of her 24 shots have come from deep this season.
“One thing I try to tell the team is just be a star in your own role,” Charles said speaking on the team’s chemistry. “Whatever your role is just capitalize and be a star in your own role.”
There will be no issue for Wiese to fill into her role as the year goes on if she doesn’t miss significant time. With the rest of the roster on an ice-cold shooting stretch (31.6% as a team), the Mystics need as much scoring as they can get from the supporting cast.
She wasn’t just a supplemental piece in this game. And if she can have more nights as she did against the Sun, it’ll be just what the Mystics want from her role in the offense.
“She’s doing a lot of really good things for us right now. It was tough to see her go down,” Atkins said.