August 21, 2025
With consistency and clutch baskets, Sonia Citron breaks Washington Mystics’ rookie scoring record
Chamique Holdsclaw had held the record since 1999, but Citron passed her on Tuesday
WASHINGTON — Sonia Citron got to cut down plenty of nets in college at Notre Dame, as she won two regular-season ACC titles and one ACC Tournament title with the Fighting Irish. But on Tuesday, she got another piece of a celebratory net in a different way.
Continue reading with a subscription to The Next
Get unlimited access to women’s basketball coverage and help support our hardworking staff of writers, editors, and photographers by subscribing today.
Already a member?
Login
The Washington Mystics rookie guard broke the franchise’s rookie record for points in a season. After Tuesday’s game against the Connecticut Sun, some Mystics staff members took down the net that Citron’s milestone shot had sailed through, as they planned to give her a piece of it to commemorate her accomplishment.
The record Citron broke had stood since 1999, when future Mystics Hall of Famer Chamique Holdsclaw scored 525 points in 31 games. Citron now has 537 in 35 games, which also ranks 17th in WNBA history among rookies.
“That’s not really why I play. I’m just trying to help the team win basketball games and just get better every day,” Citron told reporters postgame. “But it is an honor. So it’s cool.”
The IX Basketball, a 24/7/365 women’s basketball newsroom powered by The Next
The IX Basketball: A basketball newsroom brought to you by The IX Sports. 24/7/365 women’s basketball coverage, written, edited and photographed by our young, diverse staff and dedicated to breaking news, analysis, historical deep dives and projections about the game we love.
Citron entered Tuesday averaging 15.2 points per game and needing just 8 points to break Holdsclaw’s record. Fans were made aware of just how close she was as Mike Biana, the Mystics’ in-game host, mentioned it during warmups. Even Citron’s former Mystics teammate and current Sun forward Aaliyah Edwards was informed pregame.
“I’ll make sure she [only] gets 7,” she joked. “No, I’m playing, I’m playing. I’m just gonna make sure she don’t score on me for that eighth point.”
Citron wasted no time tying the record, making a 3-pointer, a fast-break layup and a midrange pull-up in the first 6:05 of the game. The pull-up came after Citron faked a three, which could’ve broken the record then and there, and took one dribble to free herself. She didn’t miss a shot in that stretch and staked Washington to an early lead.
However, Citron cooled down for the rest of the half, including missing a pull-up near the free-throw line over the 6’3 Edwards. Meanwhile, the Sun used an extended 42-20 run to take a lead they would never relinquish in the 80-69 win.
About three minutes into the third quarter, with Edwards safely on the Sun bench, Citron ended the wait for the record. She cut from baseline to baseline, using a screen from fellow rookie star Kiki Iriafen to get open in the left corner. Point guard Jade Melbourne passed her the ball, and she calmly swished a 3-pointer.
Citron scored 9 more points in the fourth quarter and finished with 19 on 7-for-17 shooting, including 3-for-7 from 3-point range. It was her 30th game with 10 or more points and her 10th with at least 19 points.
“She’s a dog, man,” Mystics center/forward Shakira Austin told reporters postgame. “She comes in every day. There’s never a day where she’s not working. … She doesn’t have a set goal; she literally just comes in and stays consistent. And, I mean, it shows in how dependable she is and how consistent she’s been.”
While Citron broke the franchise’s rookie scoring record, she also climbed the Mystics’ overall leaderboards. She is 100 points away from breaking Brittney Sykes’ overall single-season scoring record of 636 points in 40 games in 2023. That means Citron needs to average 11.1 points over the remaining nine games to get there. (She could also get there in the same number of games as Sykes by averaging 20 points over her next five games — which is doable considering she is averaging 20.5 over her last six.)
Incredibly, Citron also already ranks 34th in franchise history for points scored in a Mystics career. All but two players ahead of her have played at least twice as many games for the Mystics as she has.
Want even more women’s sports in your inbox?
Subscribe now to The IX Sports and receive our daily women’s sports newsletter covering soccer, tennis, basketball, golf, hockey and gymnastics from our incredible team of writers. That includes Basketball Wednesday from founder and editor Howard Megdal.
Readers of The IX Basketball now save 50% on their subscription to The IX.
Citron, the No. 3 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, earned a reputation in the preseason as a player who never seemed to miss a shot. On May 16, the day of the season opener, Austin told The Next, “Coach would literally be like, ‘Y’all realize Soni hasn’t missed a shot all day?’ and it would be like an hour and a half [into practice]. And we’re like, ‘Soni, what the hell?’ And it’s been every day.”
Then Citron likely put a target on her back in opponents’ scouting reports with 19 points on 6-for-7 shooting in the season opener. And if that didn’t do the trick, scoring in double figures in each of her next 13 games surely did. Yet opponents largely haven’t been able to contain her all season.
For example, Los Angeles Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts told reporters before Sunday’s game that Citron “definitely has our attention” as the Mystics’ top perimeter player. But Citron still scored 24 points on 9-for-16 shooting, including 5-for-6 from 3-point range.
“Citron was phenomenal,” Roberts said after the Mystics beat the Sparks 95-86. “Every time we kind of got it close and pushed, she hit a big shot.”
Part of what sets Citron apart is her patience. She doesn’t force shots and is happy to share the ball in the Mystics’ quick-moving offense. On Tuesday, she recorded an assist before she’d even taken a shot, corralling a loose ball and finding Iriafen for an easy layup.
“She can start the first half and maybe not get a lot of touches, and before you know it, she has 20 points,” Iriafen told reporters after Sunday’s game. “… She doesn’t even hunt her shots. They kind of just flow.”
Citron is also already a true three-level scorer. About 36% of her shot attempts this season are within 5 feet of the rim, 25% are longer 2-pointers and 39% are 3-pointers. She is making 68% of her shots within 5 feet of the rim and 41% of her threes.
Your business can reach over 3 million women’s sports fans every single month!
Here at The IX Basketball and The IX Sports, our audience is a collection of the smartest, most passionate women’s sports fans in the world. If your business has a mission to serve these fans, reach out to our team at BAlarie@theixsports.com to discuss ways to work together.
Citron only fleetingly hit the dreaded “rookie wall,” around when she and Iriafen played in the WNBA All-Star Game. “Maybe a few days going in[to the game] and a few days after. And then after that, nothing,” Mystics head coach Sydney Johnson told reporters on Sunday, emphasizing the final word.
Citron has avoided a major slump even though defenders are extremely physical with her on the perimeter. She said on Sunday that she feels “pretty banged up” after games and that getting her body to feel fresh has been “an up-and-down battle” this season. Johnson has spoken multiple times about how often Citron is grabbed and dragged and how rarely fouls are called.
That happened again in the fourth quarter on Tuesday, when a Sun player appeared to push Citron down right in front of an official, but no foul was called. Austin incredulously went over to the official and insisted, “Call that!” while gesturing to show how the contact happened.
Citron has also avoided a slump even as she has been asked to do more than she was last season at Notre Dame, when she was often the third option behind fellow guards Hannah Hidalgo and Olivia Miles. She is using 20.4% of the Mystics’ possessions this season when she’s on the court — up from 18.2% at Notre Dame last season. (“Using” possessions means that they end with her shooting from the field, shooting a free throw or turning the ball over.) At times, Citron has even facilitated the Mystics’ offense, even though she’s a 6’1 wing, not a point guard.
On Aug. 5, Sykes was traded to the Seattle Storm, leaving the Mystics without their leading scorer and assister. Since then, even more has been on Citron and Iriafen’s shoulders. But somehow, they haven’t shown the strain.
“They’re the main point of emphasis in the scout, so they’re getting double-teamed, they’re getting trapped,” Melbourne told The Next before Tuesday’s game. “[Opponents] know a lot of our stuff runs through them, and rightly so. … They’ve been unbelievable. They continue to adjust, watch film [and] get better.”
Related reading: How Kiki Iriafen became the best rookie rebounder in Washington Mystics history
Before the trade, Citron was averaging 14.3 points per game on 45.4% shooting from the field and 37.0% from 3-point range. In the seven games since, she is averaging 19.4 points on 50.5% shooting overall and 58.1% from 3-point range. She has also increased her assists from 2.3 per game before the trade to 3.4 since while keeping her turnovers steady.
All season, Citron has played some of her best basketball when the Mystics need it most. She ranks second in the WNBA with 187 total points in fourth quarters, behind only four-time All-Star Kelsey Plum. That is nearly as many as she has scored in first and second quarters combined (202). As a result, the Mystics’ offense overall is at its best in fourth quarters, too.
“I honestly don’t know,” Citron said on Sunday when asked why her scoring increases so much in the fourth quarter. “A lot of people have asked me. I don’t think I really do anything different. I think I just get good looks and I’m able to put them in, but mentally, I don’t change how I think or how I go about the game.”
Citron has also played well in clutch minutes, which are defined as when the score is within 5 points in the last five minutes of regulation or in overtime. She has played 79 clutch minutes, the fourth-most in the league, and scored 42 clutch points, which is tied for sixth.
“She’s just elite,” Melbourne said. “… I think she’s like the clutchest player in the league, and we all believe that now. So when nothing’s going right, we give it to Sonia, and we know she’s going to take care of business.”
All those late, potentially game-changing baskets have helped the Mystics outperform preseason expectations and stay in the playoff race even without Sykes. And now, they’ve helped Citron break a record that had stood for almost the franchise’s entire existence.
Monumental Sports and Entertainment, the group that owns the Washington Mystics, holds a minority stake in The Next. The Next’s editorial operations are entirely independent of Monumental and all other business partners.
All statistics reflect games through Aug. 19, 2025.
Written by Jenn Hatfield
Jenn Hatfield is The IX Basketball's managing editor, Washington Mystics beat reporter and Ivy League beat reporter. She has been a contributor to The IX Basketball since December 2018. Her work has also appeared at FiveThirtyEight, Her Hoop Stats, FanSided, Power Plays, The Equalizer and Princeton Alumni Weekly.
