Short-handed Wings take nine-game skid to Washington

Two teams that haven't had an easy time this season will square off Saturday afternoon when the Dallas Wings visit the Washington Mystics.

The Wings (3-11) continue to deal with a thin roster that features only eight healthy players, and they are struggling to get on track because of it.

They have dropped nine consecutive games, including an 83-72 loss to the Chicago Sky on Thursday.

Awak Kuier is out for the season, Maddy Siegrist and Satou Sabally are injured and Jaelyn Brown is out because of an illness.

Arike Ogunbowale is doing her best to spark a turnaround, scoring 31 in the loss to Chicago and averaging 25.4 points per game for the season.

Despite the struggles, Dallas is trying to find a silver lining.

"We want to focus on the positives and what we're doing well so we can enhance that even to a greater level, and then correct a few of the mishaps that we talk about," Wings coach Latricia Trammell told the Dallas Morning News. "They're professional athletes, and so we've just got to move forward."

Washington (2-13) is at the bottom of the WNBA standings and just 1-5 at home. The Mystics did win two straight before Wednesday's 88-81 loss at Indiana.

Head coach Eric Thibault believes better days are ahead for the team even if the record doesn't reflect that.

"I said the other night we are turning into a good basketball team and we just haven't had the wins to show for it yet," Thibault said in a postgame interview. "We've been playing better basketball for a while now.

The Mystics lost 88-81 to the Fever on Wednesday despite 27 points from Ariel Atkins, who is the team's leading scorer at 15.5 points per game.

This marks the first meeting of the season between the Wings and Mystics, who will finish the back-to-back in the nation's capital on Sunday afternoon.

--Field Level Media