After their five game home winning streak came to an end on Tuesday night at the hands of the Fever, the Mystics (13-9) will look to begin a new streak on Sunday when they welcome the top ranked Minnesota Lynx (18-6) to Verizon Center (4pm). Sunday’s game will be the first in a home-and-home set with the Lynx, as the Mystics will head to Minnesota to play at the Target Center next Wednesday night.

The two teams met in the preseason, playing both a normal preseason game (Mystics 89 – Lynx 63) along with a special ‘analytics scrimmage’, which was the first of its kind.

While the ‘Stics had no problem dismantling the Lynx in the preseason, the team they’ll see on Sunday will certainly provide a tougher test and will take the team’s best effort to come away with a win.

The Lynx are led by the reigning league MVP Maya Moore, who’s having another stellar season, averaging over 20 points and seven rebounds per game. She tied her then season-high with 32 points in a win over the Stars on Tuesday and followed that with a season-high 36 points in a come-from-behind win over the Dream on Friday.

The Lynx also recently added all-star center Sylvia Fowles in a three-way trade with the Sky and Dream. Since joining the Lynx, Fowles has averaged 13.9 points and 6.0 rebounds in eight games. She’s been an elite center in the league for the past eight years and gives the Lynx a real presence on the interior.

To make the team even more dangerous, former Finals MVP and WNBA all-star Seimone Augustus returned to the lineup on Friday after missing 10 games with a knee injury.  She had six points on 3/13 shooting in 23 minutes.

After winning five straight, the Mystics have gone 2-3 over their last five and are looking to build some separation in a very tight Eastern Conference race.  They enter Sunday’s game tied with the Indiana Fever for third place and sit just one and a half game ahead of the fifth place Connecticut Sun.  They now enter a tough stretch, with their next five games coming against the Lynx, Sky, and Mercury.

In order to get back on track, they’ll need to feed their All-Star power forward Emma Meesseman, who was shutout in their latest loss on 0/4 shooting.   Meesseman and fellow all-star Stefanie Dolson were both kept quiet in Tuesday’s defeat, something that hasn’t happened all that often in 2015.   The battle on the post between Meesseman/Dolson and Fowles/Brunson will be a good one to watch and could be the difference in the game.

These are two of the top defensive teams in the league, ranking second and third in the WNBA in points allowed per game.  Even with many capable scorers on the floor, this could be a low-scoring affair with offense tough to come by, so look for the Mystics to try and get out on the break and create some transition points to accelerate their offensive attack.

Tip-off is set for 4pm on Sunday.