D8 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.TUESDAY, JULY 28 , 2020
such as the Interstate Athletic
Conference and the Independent
School League have put forth a
model where one season ends
before the other begins, the
VHSL plan could have up to three
weeks of overlap between sea-
sons. For some multisport ath-
letes, this could force tough deci-
sions.
“I definitely see some issues,
but these are extreme times,”
Bibbee said. “This year, we’re just
going to have to go with the flow.
Playing dual sports are important
for many reasons. But the kids
may have to choose.”
Secondary questions are pre-
mature for now. The coronavirus
has halted competitions since
March 12, and everyone is operat-
ing on the pandemic’s timetable.
As seen in MLB, where a team’s
outbreak has jeopardized the sea-
son less than a week into it,
smooth returns aren’t guaran-
teed.
But with plans for a potential
season in place, excitement is
high in Northern Virginia.
“The kids have been champing
at the bit to get back out there,”
Rivers said. “The first question I
got this morning when we found
out was about when we would
start working out. I had to tell
them: ‘Guys, relax. Let’s just be
happy that we’re going to play
some games.’ ”
[email protected]
[email protected]canceled.
“I thought model three legiti-
mately was the only one that was
equitable for all sports,” Chantilly
girls’ soccer coach Melissa Bibbee
said. “It’s the only one that’s
giving us a fighting chance.”
While the fall season does
include the low-risk sports of golf
and cross-country, those sports
are also delayed until spring. The
VHSL voted not to exempt those
sports from the delay out of
equity concerns.
Even as the schedule is in
place, plenty of questions remain
unanswered. The board will meet
Aug. 24 to discuss what playoff
format, if any, to use. If seasons
are canceled, there will be ques-
tions about athletes reclassifying.
Eventually, the time will come for
questions about spectators. And
the state defers to the school
districts on questions about coro-
navirus protocols and testing and
procedures for when athletes test
positive.
“Obviously they will have to
work out some logistics,” Patriot
boys’ basketball coach Sherman
Rivers said. “But just the simple
fact that we’re going to have a
season made it an extremely hap-
py moment for me and I’m sure
for our players.”
There will also be issues posed
by the overlap between sports.
Whereas local private leaguesVIRGINIA FROM D1In Virginia, short seasons
scheduled to start Dec. 28
Mystics team built to share the
ball and take advantage of mis-
matches, she is unlikely to see as
many matchup advantages as she
did against a Fever team without
much of an interior presence.
The Mystics face the Connecti-
cut Sun (0-1) on Tuesday in a
rematch of the 2019 Finals,
though many of the key figures
from that series will be absent in
Bradenton. The Mystics will be
without three starters from their
Game 5 win — Delle Donne and
the starting backcourt of Natasha
Cloud (opted out) and Kristi Toli-
ver (left via free agency). The Sun
will be missing Jonquel Jones
(opted out), Courtney Williams
(traded) and Shekinna Stricklen
(left via free agency) — three of
the top five scorers from that 2019
team.
Thibault wants to temper ex-
pectations for both the team and
Hines-Allen. However, he was en-
couraged that the third-year pow-
er forward has taken coaching to
heart.
“I said, ‘Look, you’re an under-
sized post player,’ ” T hibault said. “
‘You need to be able to do some
things that other posts can’t do.’
One was ballhandling, to be able
to attack people off the dribble,
use her quickness and strength,
because she’s n ot going to be there
on length or size.... She’s worked
very hard over the last year to
expand her shooting range.
“I just told her you have to kind
of reinvent yourself into a modern
day post player who can do multi-
ple things.”
Note: Hawkins will miss Tues-
day’s game after she was sched-
uled to see a doctor Monday about
her injured back. Thibault said
she could m iss the rest of the
week. The team was already
shorthanded with just 10 active
players, but Thibault said he is
unlikely to add another player
immediately. Hawkins would
need to miss two games first to
apply for a roster hardship, but
then the new player would need a
physical and cardiac screening
and then quarantine for seven
days.
[email protected]TONI L. SANDYS/THE WASHINGTON POST
Lake Braddock football, like all fall sports, has a February return
date. “This is the best option,” quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. said.BY KAREEM COPELANDAerial Powers simply grinned
when asked about Myisha Hines-
Allen’s WNBA coming-out party.
The fifth-year veteran has spent
the past two-plus years watching
Hines-Allen put in the work be-
hind the scenes. She knew what
was coming.
“If you know, you know,” Pow-
ers said when asked about Hines-
Allen’s 27 points and 10 rebounds
in the Mystics’ season-opening
101-76 blowout win over the Indi-
ana Fever on Saturday in the
WNBA’s bubble in Bradenton, F la.
“The girls who have been on
this team, that see Myisha com-
pete every day in practice, they
know what she has,” Powers said.
“We knew she had it in her, she
just hadn’t had the opportunity
given the amazing players before
her. But now she has the opportu-
nity and she’s taking full advan-
tage. I feel like you’ll see a lot of
that from Myisha... where she
can score in multiple ways. She’s a
big, strong four. She can play the
five, but she can also pop out and
shoot the three. If you know, you
know.”
Hines-Allen and the rest of the
Mystics served notice that, al-
though the team may be without
four projected starters, the de-
fending champions still have
plenty of weapons. Hines-Allen
was a force from the opening tip,
working inside and out, taking
defenders off the dribble, grab-
bing defensive rebounds and
starting the break.
Coach/General Manager Mike
Thibault, teammates and Hines-
Allen herself seemed almost casu-
al about the effort, but numbers
don’t lie. Hines-Allen, who had
eclipsed her previous career high
of 15 points by halftime, averaged
2.3 points and 2.1 rebounds in
7.8 minutes per game on last sea-
son’s title-winning team. As a
rookie in 2018, she averaged
3.8 points and 2.9 rebounds in
10.5 minutes.
There just weren’t a lot of min-
utes left over behind Elena Delle
Donne, LaToya Sanders, Emma
Meesseman and Tianna Hawkins
the past two seasons. The novel
coronavirus pandemic led Sand-
ers and offseason acquisition Tina
Charles to opt out of the season.
Delle Donne is rehabbing a back
injury, and Hawkins tweaked her
back and barely played Saturday.
Hines-Allen seized her chance.
“The biggest thing, when I was
sitting on the bench those two
years, I wasn’t just sulking and
being mad,” Hines-Allen said.
“ ‘Oh, why am I not playing?’
Complaining and this and that. I
was continuing to get better. Look
at the people in front of me. What
are they doing well? How do they
defend? How do they get their
open shots? It’s, like, all leading
up to this point now where I
worked so hard for it.“If I would have been mad and
angry those two years that I
wasn’t playing where we had
great players in front of me play-
ing, then this moment right here
wouldn’t have mattered to me at
all. It mattered because I took
everything that the post players
were giving me — e ven the guards
were telling me what to do. It all
leads up to this moment and
makes it even more special.”
Things aren’t likely to come so
easily for Hines-Allen the rest of
the season. She won’t sneak up on
anyone after her play Saturday.
She will be a big part of oppo-
nents’ scouting reports and, for aMystics’ Hines-Allen seizes the day
With breakout performance, third-year forward takes advantage of new role in shortened season
PHELAN M. EBENHACK/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Myisha Hines-Allen, shooting over Indiana’s Natalie Achonwa, had
27 points and 10 rebounds for Washington in Saturday’s victory.Mystics vs. Sun
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