Off to their best start since 2002, the Washington Mystics now need to prove they can overcome adversity with Tuesday’s announcement that co-captain DeLisha Milton-Jones’ knee injury will sideline her for six to eight weeks.
Milton-Jones, who has thrived since returning to her natural power forward position this season, has a sprained medial collateral ligament in her left knee. Team doctors made the evaluation after seeing results from an MRI performed on Tuesday morning. Jones injured her knee in a collision with New York Liberty forward Ashley Battle during the Washington’s 88-70 win Saturday night that improved the Mystics to 7-3.
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Milton-Jones, a seven-year veteran, former Olympian and all-star, averages 12.8 points per game, second highest on the team behind guard Alana Beard (20.7 ppg). But Milton-Jones’ defensive contributions could be more difficult to replace.
“She gets out there and pressures the heck out of the ball and she gets it done so it is going to be a huge loss for us,” Beard said.
Mystics coach Richie Adubato said Nakia Sanford would replace Milton-Jones in the starting lineup. Sanford, averaging 6.7 points and 5.6 rebounds per game as a reserve, previously started for the Mystics during the 2004 season when Chamique Holdsclaw took a leave of absence.
“I definitely have big shoes to fill,” Sanford said. “And everyone else has to step up in their departments also.”
Mystics General Manager Linda Hargrove said replacing Jones would require a team effort.
“Someone will step up for us,” Hargrove said. “We probably won’t have just one person replacing DeLisha, it’ll be a combination of people.”
Hargrove said they will activate 6-foot-7 center Zane Teilane to take Milton-Jones’ spot on the active roster. Called “a project” by Adubato, Teilane is not expected to contribute more than a couple of minutes each game.
Jones previously suffered a torn medial meniscus and sprained medial collateral ligament in her other knee as a member of the Los Angeles Sparks during the 2004 season. That injury caused her to miss 15 regular season games as well as the playoffs.
Jones was scheduled to begin rehabilitation Tuesday afternoon and watched the team’s practice from the bench wearing a T-shirt that read: “I love playing.”
