Sun Stymie Mercury

By Bob Phillips

UNCASVILLE—Alyssa Thomas posted her second triple-double in less 11 days to lead the Connecticut Sun to an 97-63 victory over the Phoenix Mercury 87-63 before 6,130 fans at the Mohegan Sun Arena on Tuesday night. Thomas, who recorded her first triple-double in a win over the Minnesota Lynx on July 22, finished with 10 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. The No. 4 pick overall in the 2014 draft, the 6-2 Thomas is just the fifth WNBA player with multiple triple-doubles. She joins Candace Parker (Chicago Sky) and Sabrina Ionescu (New York Liberty) as the only players with more than one this season.

Natisha Hiedeman led the Sun in scoring with a 16-point effort. In all, seven Connecticut players scored in double digits—Thomas, Heideman, had 16 points to lead seven Connecticut players scoring in double figures joining DiJonai Carrington and DeWanna Bonner (12 points each), and Brionna Jones (11). In addition, Jonquel Jones, who has made a career out of putting up double-doubles, had another one on Tuesday with 10 points and 10 boards. It was only the 12thh time in WNBA history that seven or more players registered double-digit points in the same game. The Sun have done it three times.

The Mercury jumped out to an early 13-8 lead when Shey Peddy scored with 3:44 remaining in the first quarter. But the Sun turned up the defensive heat at that point and shut the Phoenix offense down for the next seven-plus minutes. The Mercury closed out the opening period with a 5-0 run to knot the score at 13-13 at the first turn.

Brionna Jones opened the second quarter with a layup to stake Connecticut to a 15-13 advantage, and the Sun would not relinquish that lead for the rest of the contest.

Former UConn nemesis Skylar Diggins-Smith and Sophie Cunningham scored 15 points apiece for Phoenix and Kaela Davis added 10. The Mercury, who fell to 13-18, now have dropped two straight games to fall a game behind Dallas for sixth place in the overall WNBA standings. Eight teams will qualify for the postseason.

UConn legend Diana Taurasi appeared to be dinged up and did not score. She was 0-for-6 from the field (including 0-for-4 from downtown) and turned the ball over four times. On the plus side, DT grabbed five rebounds—all off the defensive glass.

Sun Sign Sims

The Sun announced on Wednesday that the team has signed Odyssey Sims to a seven-day contract. Sims, drafted second overall in the 2014 WNBA Draft, has played in the league for eight seasons with Tulsa, Dallas, Los Angeles, Minnesota and Atlanta. In May, she re-signed with the Lynx and appeared in two games before being released. Throughout her238-game WNBA career, the former Baylor standout has averaged 12.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.1 steals per game. While at Baylor she became the program’s all-time leader in assists (with 572) and three-point field goals made (223). She will wear No. 1 for Connecticut and will be available to play on day when the Sun and Mercury play their second game of the week.

Sun Spots

* With one steal in Tuesday’s contest, Alyssa Thomas moved into third all-time in steals in Connecticut Sun franchise history, tying Taj McWilliams-Franklin with 350 takeaways.

* AT notched her second triple-double of the season with 10 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. She also passed the 800-assist mark in tonight’s win, now having dished out 804 in her career.

* With four rebounds, Courtney Williams is now tied with Chiney Ogwumike for ninth all-time in rebounding in Connecticut Sun history, with 712 rebounds.

* Connecticut finished the night shooting 45.9% (34-74), while holding Phoenix to 35.9% (23-64) from the field.