# 2008 Washington Mystics season

The 2008 WNBA season was the 11th season for the Washington Mystics women's professional basketball team. Despite a 10–16 record before the WNBA break for the Beijing Olympics, Mystics officials said that attendance at Verizon Center had risen from nearly 1,200 fans a game over the previous season, with total ticket revenue up 17 percent, and season-ticket sales for the 2008 season were up 20 percent from last season, bringing the team's base to nearly 3,000.

## Off-season

On October 2, 2007, the Mystics announced that Tree Rollins would be named the permanent head coach. Rollins had been the interim head coach since the resignation of Richie Adubato on June 1, 2007.

### Expansion draft

Yelena Leuchanka was selected in the 2008 Expansion Draft for the Atlanta Dream.

### WNBA draft

| Round | Pick | Player | Nationality | School or club team |
| 1 | 6 | Crystal Langhorne | United States | Maryland |
| 2 | 20 | Lindsey Pluimer | United States | UCLA |
| 3 | 34 | Krystal Vaughn | United States | Virginia Commonwealth |

## Transactions
### Trades

| April 22, 2008 | To Washington Mystics Taj McWilliams-Franklin and a first-round pick in the 2009 WNBA draft | To Los Angeles Sparks DeLisha Milton-Jones |
| August 12, 2008 | To Washington Mystics Tasha Humphrey, Eshaya Murphy, and a second-round pick in the 2009 WNBA draft | To Detroit Shock Taj McWilliams-Franklin |

### Free agents

| Player | Signed | Former team |
| Amber Jacobs | March 17, 2008 | Indiana Fever |
| Kendra Wecker | June 23, 2008 | San Antonio Silver Stars |
| Player | Left | New team |
| Nikki Teasley | March 24, 2008 | Atlanta Dream (August 15, 2008) |
| Stacey Lovelace | March 27, 2008 | Atlanta Dream |
| Amber Jacobs | June 23, 2008 | Los Angeles Sparks (July 7, 2008) |
| Kendra Wecker | August 12, 2008 |
| Player | Re-signed |
| Nakia Sanford | February 21, 2008 |
| Alana Beard | February 25, 2008 |
| Laurie Koehn | February 28, 2008 |
| Coco Miller | September 14, 2008 |

## Regular season

* On July 19, 2008, Tree Rollins was fired by the team after an 8–14 start. Assistant coach Jessie Kenlaw was named as interim head coach.

### Season standings

| Eastern Conference | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Conf. |
| Detroit Shock $^x$ | 22 | 12 | .647 | – | 14–3 | 8–9 | 16–4 |
| Connecticut Sun $^x$ | 21 | 13 | .618 | 1.0 | 13–4 | 8–9 | 13–7 |
| New York Liberty $^x$ | 19 | 15 | .559 | 3.0 | 11–6 | 8–9 | 11–9 |
| Indiana Fever $^x$ | 17 | 17 | .500 | 5.0 | 11–6 | 6–11 | 12–8 |
| Chicago Sky $^o$ | 12 | 22 | .353 | 10.0 | 8–9 | 4–13 | 10–10 |
| Washington Mystics $^o$ | 10 | 24 | .294 | 12.0 | 6–11 | 4–13 | 6–14 |
| Atlanta Dream $^o$ | 4 | 30 | .118 | 18.0 | 1–16 | 3–14 | 2–18 |

### Season schedule

| Date | Opponent | Score | Leading scorer | Attendance | Record |
| May 17 | @ Indiana | 53-64 | Nakia Sanford (14) | 10,533 | 0-1 |
| May 22 | @ New York | 60-79 | Taj McWilliams-Franklin (26) | 7,071 | 0-2 |
| May 25 | vs. Houston | 69-66 | Alana Beard (16) | 10,441 | 1-2 |
| May 27 | vs. Atlanta | 80-74 | Alana Beard (25) | 6,231 | 2-2 |
| May 31 | vs. Los Angeles | 59-70 | Monique Currie (15) | 11,517 | 2-3 |
| June 3 | @ Phoenix | 93-98 | Alana Beard (33) | 7,561 | 2-4 |
| June 6 | @ San Antonio | 52-63 | Alana Beard (13) | 5,800 | 2-5 |
| June 8 | @ Connecticut | 79-87 | Monique Currie (28) | 7,174 | 2-6 |
| June 11 | vs. Sacramento | 76-79 | Taj McWilliams-Franklin (23) | 6,146 | 2-7 |
| June 13 | @ Chicago | 64-57 | Alana Beard (22) | 2,600 | 3-7 |
| June 18 | @ Houston | 67-63 | Alana Beard (23) | 7,054 | 4-7 |
| June 20 | vs. Atlanta | 72-61 | Alana Beard (18) | 7,448 | 5-7 |
| June 24 | vs. Phoenix | 90-98 | Taj McWilliams-Franklin (31) | 6,662 | 5-8 |
| June 26 | @ Los Angeles | 77-74 (OT) | Monique Currie (24) | 8,144 | 6-8 |
| June 29 | @ Seattle | 49-64 | Alana Beard (16) | 7,965 | 6-9 |
| July 1 | @ Sacramento | 81-87 | Alana Beard (31) | 5,705 | 6-10 |
| July 6 | vs. San Antonio | 75-83 | Alana Beard (20) | 10,439 | 6-11 |
| July 8 | vs. Indiana | 50-48 | Taj McWilliams-Franklin (20) | 7,587 | 7-11 |
| July 11 | @ Detroit | 66-79 | Coco Miller (15) | 8,596 | 7-12 |
| July 13 | vs. Connecticut | 69-64 | Nikki Blue (13) | 9,610 | 8-12 |
| July 17 | @ New York | 56-77 | Alana Beard (15) | 8,344 | 8-13 |
| July 18 | vs. Detroit | 62-99 | Taj McWilliams-Franklin (13) | 6,834 | 8-14 |
| July 20 | vs. Seattle | 89-57 | Taj McWilliams-Franklin (22) | 8,543 | 9-14 |
| July 23 | vs. New York | 73-80 | Taj McWilliams-Franklin (19) | 16,121 | 9-15 |
| July 25 | @ Atlanta | 81-75 | Taj McWilliams-Franklin (13) | 8,279 | 10-15 |
| July 27 | vs. Connecticut | 60-82 | Taj McWilliams-Franklin (11) | 9,357 | 10-16 |
| August 29 | vs. Chicago | 75-79 | Alana Beard (18) | 10,043 | 10-17 |
| August 30 | @ Minnesota | 78-92 | Alana Beard (27) | 6,980 | 10-18 |
| September 2 | vs. Indiana | 68-79 | Alana Beard (17) | 7,244 | 10-19 |
| September 6 | vs. Detroit | 69-84 | Monique Currie (15) | 9,976 | 10-20 |
| September 9 | @ Chicago | 59-78 | Tasha Humphrey (15) | 3,087 | 10-21 |
| September 11 | @ Detroit | 66-78 | Alana Beard (16) Monique Currie (16) | 8,145 | 10-22 |
| September 13 | @ Connecticut | 81-87 | Monique Currie (23) | 8,652 | 10-23 |
| September 14 | vs. Minnesota | 70-96 | Alana Beard (17) | 10,438 | 10-24 |

## Player stats
### Regular season

| Player | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
| Alana Beard | 33 | 33 | 33.1 | .395 | .354 | .733 | 3.6 | 3.5 | 1.7 | 0.6 | 16.1 |
| Taj McWilliams-Franklin | 26 | 26 | 33.2 | .525 | .280 | .730 | 7.3 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 1.0 | 13.3 |
| Monique Currie | 34 | 34 | 28.6 | .401 | .375 | .826 | 4.1 | 2.5 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 11.9 |
| Tasha Humphrey | 8 | 7 | 26.5 | .415 | .379 | .588 | 6.1 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 11.1 |
| Nakia Sanford | 34 | 28 | 23.4 | .452 | .000 | .398 | 5.7 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 6.7 |
| Coco Miller | 34 | 6 | 20.9 | .355 | .283 | .625 | 2.5 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 5.3 |
| Crystal Langhorne | 34 | 6 | 15.6 | .624 | .000 | .549 | 4.0 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 4.8 |
| Crystal Smith | 28 | 4 | 14.0 | .355 | .368 | .806 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 4.3 |
| Nikki Blue | 26 | 22 | 20.7 | .324 | .438 | .760 | 1.6 | 2.8 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 3.8 |
| Andrea Gardner | 22 | 0 | 8.1 | .379 | .000 | .542 | 2.3 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 2.6 |
| Laurie Koehn | 30 | 0 | 4.8 | .393 | .418 | .000 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.4 |
| Bernice Mosby | 24 | 1 | 7.6 | .392 | .000 | .667 | 2.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 2.0 |
| Amber Jacobs | 6 | 3 | 13.7 | .250 | .300 | .500 | 1.2 | 1.8 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 1.7 |
| Eshaya Murphy | 2 | 0 | 5.5 | .333 | .000 | .000 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
| Krystal Vaughn | 15 | 0 | 5.2 | .158 | .000 | .600 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.8 |
| Kendra Wecker | 9 | 0 | 5.3 | .118 | .143 | .000 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.6 |
Washington Mystics Regular Season Stats