The Washington Mystics opened their 2025 Commissioner's Cup campaign on Tuesday night, falling to the Indiana Fever 85-76 at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

This Marked the Mystics' first game in the 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup presented by Coinbase. The in-season competition runs from June 1-17.

The top team from each conference will advance to the Championship Game and compete for a $500,000 prize pool. As part of the league’s commitment to community impact, each WNBA team has selected a local nonprofit partner. The Mystics have selected the ACLU of Washington, D.C. as their 2025 Commissioner’s Cup charity partner.

Rookie Kiki Iriafen led the way for Washington with a career-high 20 points on 9-11 shooting (81.8%), while also collecting nine rebounds. She became the 13th rookie in WNBA history to record a 20+ point, 8+ rebound performance while shooting 80 percent or better from the field. Iriafen joined Mystics teammates Aaliyah Edwards and Shakira Austin as the only players in franchise history to accomplish this stat line as rookies.

Iriafen has now scored at least 10 points and grabbed 4+ rebounds in all eight of her career games, becoming the first WNBA rookie to do so since Chiney Ogwumike in 2014. With 117 total points, she now holds the most points by a Mystics rookie through eight games since Chamique Holdsclaw in 1999.

Veteran guard Brittney Sykes matched Iriafen with 20 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter. She added six rebounds and four assists. Sykes recorded her third 20+ point, 5+ rebound game of the season and her league-leading sixth game scoring 20 or more points overall. She also continued her strong performance at the line, logging her seventh game of the season with at least eight free throw attempts, also a league high.

Sonia Citron continued her consistent stretch with 13 points, seven rebounds, an assist, and a block. It was her eighth straight game in double figures and her fourth career game with 10+ points and 5+ rebounds. Citron has now hit a three-pointer in five of her last six games.

Iriafen and Citron both passed 100 career points in fewer than eight games, making them the first. Mystics rookie duo to do so since Nikki McCray and Alessandra Santos de Oliveira in 1998. They are just the sixth rookie duo in league history to hit this milestone.

Off the bench, Shakira Austin contributed 10 points, three rebounds, and two blocks, marking her fourth career game scoring in double figures as a reserve.

As a team, the Mystics shot a season-high 54.5% from the field (30-55). They outscored the Fever 48-34 in the paint and matched their season high with five blocks. Defensively, Washington held Indiana to just one offensive rebound—the fourth time in franchise history the team has done so and the first since 2021.

Up next, the Mystics will host the Liberty on Thursday night at CareFirst Arena.