(Photo credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images)

In one month, the WNBA regular season comes to a close. What happens Wednesday in Washington, D.C., will affect which teams make the playoffs and which stay home as the retooled Mystics welcome the Golden State Valkyries.

The top eight teams make the WNBA playoffs and the 10th-place Mystics (14-17) are in contention despite their recent trades. Since sending top scorer Brittney Sykes to the Seattle Storm, the Mystics have split two games in exciting fashion.

They nearly beat the league-leading Minnesota Lynx on the road Friday, then fought back from a 14-point second-quarter deficit to win 91-78 on Sunday at Dallas. In the victory, new Mystics Jacy Sheldon and Alysha Clark combined for 17 points off the bench to help rookies Kiki Iriafen and Sonia Citron keep the playoff momentum in Washington's favor.

'AC (Clark) and Jacy (Sheldon), the professionalism, they're workers,' said Washington head coach Sydney Johnson. 'AC's been vocal in the in the timeouts at times. We certainly want Steph (Dolson) to lead us, but AC's been a nice addition there and Jacy's super-coachable. It's odd, they could have easily started training camp with us. That's kind of how it feels to me in terms of the type of people they are.'

Meanwhile, Golden State (16-15) sits in seventh place and comes in on a two-game winning streak despite losing All-Star Kayla Thornton on July 25 with a right knee injury.

Cecilia Zandalasini has been a big part of filling the void -- despite missing some time in June to play for Italy in FIBA 2025 EuroBasket. In Monday's 74-57 win over the Connecticut Sun, Zandalasini scored a game-high-tying 17 points. She has averaged 14.0 points over her last four games while shooting 11 of 25 on 3-point attempts.

'The way we play, it's open up very good for us,' Zandalasini said. 'If we keep in the spacing, we can get good shots. And besides that, it's always about try to be as more consistent as I can with shooting during practice and just be confident because at the end of the day that's the most important thing.'

Zandalasini did not play due to an injured left foot when these teams met on July 31 in Washington. The Valkyries claimed a 68-67 victory when Sykes' last-second floater went off the rim, which helped improve their road record to 4-10.

Washington's Shakira Austin (left leg) is listed as questionable for Wednesday's game. Austin averages 12.5 points and 6.6 rebounds.

--Field Level Media