Defense keys victory as Connecticut wins second straight on the road – The Collinsville Press

Winning on the road in the WNBA isn’t easy but the Connecticut Sun have picked up a pair of road victories this week with a victory on Monday night against Phoenix and a win on Thursday night against the Minnesota Lynx.

The Sun, who had lost three of their previous four games, beat Phoenix, 83-72 with Brionna Jones scoring 18 points and pulling down seven rebounds. DiJonai Carrnington added 16 points and pulled down eight rebounds with U.S. Olympian Alyssa Thomas scoring 10 points, getting 12 rebounds and dishing out six assists.

On Thursday, the Sun erased a 10-point deficit in the third quarter to beat the suddenly slumping Lynx, 78-74. Minnesota went 9-2 in June and beat New York for the Commissioner’s Cup. But the Lynx, who saw former UConn star Naphessa Collier leave the game with a foot injury with 2:33 left in the third quarter, have lost three of their last four games.

Thomas had her tenth regular season triple double of her career with 13 points, 10 rebounds and a tying a season-high with 14 assists. She scored 11 of her 13 points in the third quarter and played all 40 minutes – as she usually does in tight matchup.

DeWanna Bonner led the Sun (16-4) with 24 points, tying a season-high for the veteran, on 10-of-16 shooting from the field. She pulled down nine rebounds. DiJonai Carrington had 17 points, six rebounds and two steals. Veronica Burton had nine points and a career-high four steals in her first start for Connecticut with Ty Harris out with an illness.

“It’s just a tough gutsy win, you know, on the road without Ty,” Sun coach Stephanie White said. “Minnesota is a terrific team. And to get any win, certainly in this league, especially on the road is good for us. But the way that we collectively got it done (was impressive). We played well together, had each other’s back on both ends of the floor. It’s a big win for us.”

Minnesota (14-6) had a balanced scoring attack in the effort with Alanna Smith leading the team with 14 points. Kayla McBride added 13 points and eight rebounds, while Bridget Carlton and Courtney Williams each added 12 points on the night. Collier had nine points when she left the game in the third quarter.

“Minnesota has been playing incredibly well in the month of June,” White said. “They’re really hard to guard because of how they move the ball and move without the ball they got five players in constant motion. They shoot the ball incredibly well they make the extra pass so we had to be really locked in and focused for 40 minutes defensively and I was proud of how our team was able to do that.”

Connecticut scored 10 of the first 12 points of the game and had a 20-17 lead after one quarter with Bonner contributing 11 points with Thomas getting five assists. The Sun led 40-36 at halftime with Bonner leading the way with 15 points and Thomas finishing with nine assists.

A quick start in the third quarter gave Minnesota a 10-point lead at 48-38 with 8:09 left in the quarter. But the Sun ripped off a quick 10 points to tie the game. Connecticut finished the quarter with a six-point lead, 64-58.

“We came out flat in the third quarter and that’s not our identity,” Thomas said. “We started being aggressive and turning them over (forcing turnovers). And when we’re able to turn them over, it got us out in transition and it got us easy looks and brought us back in the game.”

Connecticut built a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter with a 74-64 lead with 2:51 before the Lynx responded. Six unanswered points cut the Connecticut lead to four, 74-70 with 49 seconds left in the game. Carrington hit two free throws but McBridge hit a hit three-point shot for the Lynx with 8.2 seconds remaining to cut the lead to three, 76-73.

Carrington responded with a quick layup with 6.5 seconds left and McBride’s last-second jumper was off the mark.

Earlier this week, Bonner and Jones were named to Team WNBA to play the U.S. Olympic national team in the league’s All-Star game in Phoenix. It is the sixth All-Star selection for Bonner (2015, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024) and the third selection for Jones (2021, 2022, 2024).

• The Sun outrebounded the Lynx, 35-28. Both teams dished out 23 assists.
• Connecticut outscored Minnesota in the paint (30-20), but Minnesota had the edge in second chance points (13-12), fast break points (10-9) and bench points (13-8).
• Veronica Burton made her first start this season for the Sun in tonight’s game. She now has started in 20 games in her career, with this evening marking her first start since September 10, 2023, with Dallas.
• Bonner matched her season-high with 15 first-half points. Alyssa Thomas recorded nine first-hal160-f assists, one-shy of her career-high and franchise record for assists in a single half.
• The Lynx scored 26 points off the Sun’s 18 turnovers, including 16 points off their nine first-half turnovers.
• Tonight, marks Alyssa Thomas’ fourth game of 2024 with 10+ assists and 21^st 10+ assist game of her career. The Sun are 4-0 this season when Thomas dishes 10+ assists.
• Minnesota’s all-star forward Napheesa Collier exited the game with a left foot injury with 2:33 to play in the third quarter, finishing the game with just nine points, 11 points under her season average entering tonight.

Material from the Connecticut Sun media team included in this report.