UNCASVILLE — Despite a thrilling fourth-quarter comeback attempt, the Connecticut Sun came up just short against the Minnesota Lynx, suffering a 78-76 loss at Mohegan Sun Arena on Tuesday.
The loss put the Sun out of contention for the No. 2 seed in the WNBA Playoffs, and they need to win their final regular-season game against the Chicago Sky on Thursday to hold on to their No. 3 position. The postseason begins Sunday, and Connecticut will host the No. 6 Indiana Fever in the first round if current seeding holds.
Superstar Alyssa Thomas played every minute of the first three quarters against Minnesota, getting her first rest to start the fourth. She checked back in after three minutes and finished with 18 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds, powering the Sun’s late comeback.
“For the other team, having played against her so many times, she’s really aggressive and really intimidating defensively,” said Sun guard Marina Mabrey, who was traded from the Chicago Sky midseason. “You can say you’re not worried about it, but you are. So she gave us that spark, gave us that energy and just that will to win factor. When she does that, everybody kind of jumps on board and tries to everything you can to match that energy.”
Connecticut had four players finish with double-digit points, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Lynx’s weapons. Minnesota was led by former UConn star Napheesa Collier with 25 points, six rebounds and five assists plus a game-high four blocks and two steals.
The Sun fell behind almost immediately in the first quarter as Bridget Carleton opened the game on a 3-pointer for Minnesota, and Collier hit back-to-back-to-back jump shots to open up a seven-point lead for the Lynx in the first five minutes of the game. A clutch 3-pointer from Tyasha Harris gave the Sun some offensive momentum out of a timeout, and DiJonai Carrington started off her scoring with a steal into a transition layup.
Connecticut took its first lead of the game late in the first quarter off of a second-chance layup from Brionna Jones, but it was Carrington who led the Sun in scoring early with six points in the first. Lynx guard Kayla McBride beat the buzzer for her first 3-pointer of the game to end the quarter, tying the game 22-22.
The Sun fell behind again at the beginning of the second and trailed for most of the quarter, though never by more than six points. Connecticut, which prides itself as a defensive team, struggled to get stops against Minnesota’s balanced attack.
Lynx guard Courtney Williams, who previously played for the Sun from 2016-2019 and in 2022, logged seven assists in the first half, and Minnesota had five different players record multiple field goals. Collier was practically unstoppable before halftime, scoring 14 points on 7-for-11 shooting from the field.
“The biggest thing for us is being aggressive,” Sun coach Stephanie White said. point I felt like throughout the course of the game, particularly the second quarter, we allowed them to kind of get the ball wherever they wanted to. We allowed them to pass the ball around the perimeter. We weren’t as disruptive and we weren’t aggressive in our switches … That’s something that just has to be there for 40 minutes, no matter what coverage we’re in, no matter what lineup is on the floor.”
Mabrey helped keep Connecticut in the game off the bench, hitting three 3-pointers in the first half for a team-high nine points. Carrington and Thomas logged eight points apiece for the Sun in the first half, but Thomas also gave up four of the Sun’s nine first-half turnovers that accounted for 12 Minnesota points.
Connecticut entered halftime trailing 42-37, and Minnesota began to pull away late in the third as Williams got hot with four of her eight points coming in the last three minutes of the quarter. Her second deep jump shot gave the Lynx their first double-digit lead of the game, but it was Harris again who came in clutch for Connecticut. The point guard turned the ball over for a split second before stealing it back from Minnesota guard Natisha Heideman, then drained a corner 3-pointer that cut the Sun’s deficit to 62-53 entering the fourth quarter.
Connecticut’s defensive effort improved dramatically in the fourth, holding the Lynx to a game-low 16 points after they scored at least 20 in each of the first three. The Sun went on a 7-2 run to cut Minnesota’s lead from as many as 12 points down to four with less than five minutes left on the clock. DeWanna Bonner, who entered the fourth quarter with just two points, scored five unanswered in the last three minutes of the game including a deep 3-pointer that made it a two-point game. Carrington then added a a layup in transition off a Bonner steal to tie it 69-69, and she hit a free throw on the play to give Connecticut its first lead of the quarter.
“We should have made some adjustments earlier in the game,” Thomas said. “I think we made an adjustment with six minutes left that really changed the game, so we saw some things that were beneficial for us, but I mean, we always go back and forth with (Minnesota) … I think today was everything we needed. We had a hard-fought game where we battled back and we could’ve easily given it up, but we knew what we’re capable of.”
The teams traded shots repeatedly for eight lead changes over the last two minutes, and Bonner gave the Sun a one-point lead on a layup with eight seconds left. Carleton then pulled up for a long-range 3-pointer with four seconds on the clock, and the Sun turned the ball over off the inbound pass to lose their attempt at a game-tying shot.
“We did fight back. We did position ourselves to win,” White said. “We didn’t execute in time-and-score situations, but we strung multiple stops together against one of the best offensive teams in the league I think we got to take that. I think the biggest continued growth area for us is just, we have to do that consistently. It’s going to be a game of runs, but we just can’t have as many lapses.”
Behind Thomas’s double-double, Carrington finished with 15 points and shot a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line. Mabrey and Harris hit three 3-pointers apiece to end with 15 and nine points respectively. Harris also had her second-best rebounding performance of the season with six plus a career-high three blocks.
McBride combined for 27 points with Carleton on top of Collier’s 25 to anchor the Lynx, while Williams set a new season high with 12 assists. Every Minnesota starter logged at least eight points, and Myisha Hines-Allen added nine off the bench.
Local News
Comments / 0