Maryland’s Kristi Toliver, Alyssa Thomas shine at WNBA All-Star Game

In the WNBA All-Star Game on Saturday, former Terps Kristi Toliver and Alyssa Thomas both had solid showings for Team Elena Delle Donne, which lost 129-126 to Team A’ja Wilson in Las Vegas.

Toliver was good for 16 points and nine assists, giving her one of the best stat lines on Team Delle Donne, while Thomas posted eight points, five rebounds and four assists.

Toliver had an individual 4-0 run in the first quarter and barely missed a couple threes in that frame that would have given her 10 points after one. She bounced back from her 0-for-2 start and went 2-for-4 from deep the rest of the way, including a shot at the buzzer that didn’t change the outcome of the game. Had Toliver gotten hot early, this game could’ve looked different.

Thomas looked more comfortable with her inside shot on Saturday than she had in Connecticut Sun games recently. Part of that was because there wasn’t a whole lot of defense being played, but maybe she can carry that comfort level and effortlessness forward into the second half of the season.

Also in the past two weeks, Toliver reached a new season-high of 20 points by halftime of a game against the Minnesota Lynx on Wednesday and finished with 32, which is more points in a single game than even star teammate Delle Donne has had this year. Toliver also helped the Mystics snap a three-game skid with 17 points (six in overtime) and six assists on July 19 against the Indiana Fever. Her scoring average increased a whole point in the past two weeks to 13.1 points per game.

Meanwhile, Thomas scored 11 points and had eight rebounds in a win over the Dream on July 19. She also had another one of her “quiet scoring but contribute elsewhere” games with four points, 12 rebounds, five assists and three steals on Wednesday.

Terps around the league

Washington Mystics (12-6)

Shatori Walker-Kimbrough scored nine points on July 21 and seven points on July 19 and July 24, but continued her tendency of not filling out the rest of the stat sheet with no rebounds, steals or blocks and just one assist on the latter two dates combined.

Tianna Hawkins scored 13 points to lead the Mystics’ former Terps on July 21. It was a bounceback from her two-point outing on July 19. Hawkins’ scoring has been down lately since a stretch from June 18 to July 10 where she scored in double figures in seven of eight games.

Natasha Cloud scored 10 points and dished out five assists in the Mystics’ win over the Lynx on Wednesday, but didn’t score much in Washington’s other two games that were played in the last two weeks. She did have 13 assists in those games combined, though.

Connecticut Sun (13-6)

Brionna Jones tied a season high with eight points on July 19 and played double-digit minutes (13) for just the sixth time this season.

Seattle Storm (12-9)

Crystal Langhorne scored 11 points in just 13:51 of playing time on July 19 and secured the game-ending rebound for the Storm to hold on to a 69-66 victory over the Las Vegas Aces. She also scored five points in a Tuesday loss to the Aces and went 1-for-3 from deep in both contests. Her scoring average rose by 0.9 points in the past two weeks.

Minnesota Lynx (10-10)

Lexie Brown was one shy of her career high with 20 points to lead the Lynx in their loss to the Storm on July 17. She was 4-for-6 from downtown and 8-for-11 from the field in that contest. Brown led the team in scoring again on Wednesday against the Mystics with 19 points and was 5-for-10 from distance in that one, including a bank shot that went in at the buzzer of the third quarter. Despite Brown’s 39 combined points off the bench, though, the Lynx lost both contests.

Season averages

Kristi Toliver — 13.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 1.3 steals, 0.1 blocks

Shatori Walker-Kimbrough — 7.7 points, 2.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.0 steals, 0.2 blocks

Tianna Hawkins — 10.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.6 steals, 0.1 blocks

Natasha Cloud — 9.2 points, 2.8 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 1.2 steals, 0.3 blocks

Alyssa Thomas — 11.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.9 steals, 0.4 blocks

Brionna Jones — 2.7 points, 2.2 rebounds, 0.2 assists, 0.3 steals, 0.3 blocks

Crystal Langhorne — 5.6 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 0.4 steals, 0.3 blocks

Lexie Brown — 8.3 points, 1.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 0.9 steals, 0.1 blocks