Despite Short Bench, Courtney Williams Leads Red-Hot Sun Past Liberty

Courtney Williams (22 points) led the Sun to their third
straight victory on Wednesday night.

UNCASVILLE – Courtney Williams led the way with 22 points, while Jonquel Jones added a double-double (19 points, 12 rebounds) to lead the Connecticut Sun past rolled the New York Liberty, 96-76, at the Mohegan Sun Arena on Wednesday night. It was the third straight win for the short-handed Sun (4-5), who snapped a nine-game losing streak to the Liberty (6-4) that dates back to June of 2014.

 

Connecticut was without Morgan Tuck (knee contusion) and Lynetta Kizer (back). Alex Bentley, who is competing with the Belarus National Team, was also MIA on Wednesday. Forward Alyssa Thomas matched her season-high (18 points) for the third straight game, and also contributed six rebounds, five assists and three steals. She has 13 assists, 11 rebounds and eight steals in the last three games. Point guard Jasmine Thomas had 14 points and a season-high eight assists while Rachel Banham came off the bench to score a season-high 11 points, making all three three-point attempts.

The Sun led from start to finish Wednesday, making 11-of-16 (68.8 percent) shots from the field while building a 26-15 lead after the first quarter.

The Sun cooled off in the second quarter, scoring 19 points on 5-of-18 shooting. But Williams scored 11 of those points and also had three rebounds, and the Sun went into the half with a 45-32 lead. Williams is averaging 21.3 points with 22 rebounds over the last three games.

In the second half, New York could not get closer than nine, pulling within 65-56 on a three-pointer from Tina Charles (17 points) with 1:32 left in the third quarter. But Jones answered with a pair of layups to spark a 15-0 run that made it 80-56 with 8:37 left. Banham capped the run with consecutive three-pointers.

Next up for the Sun is a trip to Minneapolis where they will take on Maya Moore, Lindsay Whalen and the Minnesota Lynx on Saturday night. Game time is set for 8 p.m. ET, and the game will be available on CSNHD, Fox Sports North Plus and NBA-TV.

Notes & Quotes

With Wednesday’s win, Connecticut snaps a nine-game losing streak to New York dating back to June 15, 2014 when the Sun won 76-72 at Mohegan Sun Arena.
The Sun won their third straight game, and have won four of their last five, improving to 4-5 on the season.
Courtney Williams finished with 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting. She has averaged 21.3 point in the last three games while shooting 64.3%.
Jonquel Jones recorded her fifth double-double of the year as she finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds. It is her second straight game with a double-double and her fourth in the last five games.
Jasmine Thomas finished the game with a season-high eight assists while adding 14 points.
Rachel Banham had a season-high 11 points going a perfect 3-of-3 from three-point range.
For the second game in a row and the third time this season, the Sun had at least five players score in double figures. Tonight it was Jones (19), Banham (11), Williams (22), Alyssa Thomas (18), Jasmine Thomas (14).
The Sun, who led 26-15 after the first quarter, shot a season high 68.8% for a quarter in the opening ten minutes, making 11-of-16 from the floor. The 11 made field goals also ties a season-high for a quarter as they did it for the fourth time this year.
Connecticut turned the ball over just one time in the first half and committed a season low eight turnovers overall. Its previous low in any half this season was three turnovers and its previous low in a game was nine, which they did twice.
Tina Charles finished with 17 points to move past Sophia Young-Malcolm (4,300 points) for 24^th place in WNBA history with 4,302 points.

Shavonte Zellous (16) finished in double figures for her fifth straight game

SUN QUOTES

Head Coach Curt Miller

Opening Statement:

“I am really proud of our team tonight. A great start to the game that set the tone as we came out fast out of the gate in the first quarter. It is the second straight game that we paid attention to the details of the scout and our team really made them work. On the offensive end, we had only one turnover at halftime and we moved their defense. That defense (New York) is the premiere defense in the league. They are the number one field goal percentage defensive team in the league, keeping teams in the mid 30’s and for us to shoot 50 percent against that defense tonight is a big accomplishment. Credit our team for staying in attack mode and we shared the ball as it was our second straight game with five players in double figures. The team is excited. Two teams that we got swept by last year, Atlanta and New York, turned into two big wins to stops two long losing streaks against both teams. I am really pleased with how we have played these last five games, and I want to keep the momentum going.”

 On his expectations for Wednesday’s game:

“I did not know what to expect. I thought that we were hungry but I didn’t know if we could repeat and bottle up what worked so well the other night against Atlanta. Our start tonight energized us and energized the crowd giving us some momentum. There was an electricity in the building to start the game with three UCONN starters for New York. They truly believe, regardless of the injuries, in who we have in uniform that we can compete, and that is the mindset as a coach that you love your players to have.”

Jonquel Jones

On back-to-back strong performances:

“I know the scout and I know what coach wants. We are executing and playing hard from the jump and I think out effort is coming through in these games. We are able to come out early and get opponents down and use that flow to take us through the rest of the game.”

On performing well as a team without three starters:

“Everyone is just taking advantage of the opportunities right now. We are being professionals and running with it.”

Courtney Williams

On the team’s strong performance:

“We are competing. We know who we have in front of us each night and that is who we are trying to win against.”

On playing well with three starters out:

“Whoever coach calls will go out there and compete. It is tough being down a couple of players, but whoever is on the court, we are going to compete against.”

 On her role with the team:

“I just go out there and compete. Shots are falling and my teammates are finding me, but it could be anyone of us having a big night. It just so happened to be me this last couple of nights.”

LIBERTY QUOTES

Head Coach Bill Laimbeer

Why was Connecticut able to take control and his team had no answer?

“We didn’t really have our best effort tonight. We have been pushing hard, being shorthanded, and tonight we kind of hit a wall a little bit and didn’t have the energy necessary. They are feeling good about themselves and we knew it would be a hard game we didn’t put forth the effort.”

On the play of Courtney Williams, who had a game-high 22 points:
“I thought she played well. She is fast, got up and down the floor and got some transition baskets to get her going and we didn’t match their energy and they had more energy than we did.”

On what adjustments needs to be made going forward:
“We still have players out right now, we will get them back. We have a road game in Dallas and we have to come out with a little more energy.”

Shavonte Zellous
On what went wrong tonight:
“I think mentally we were not focused and Connecticut came and attacked us and put us on our heels and we were not able to get a groove, but give credit to Connecticut.”

On what adjustments need to be made:
“We have to be more mentally focused from the start of the game and guard the penetration and rebound. We didn’t do a great job of that today. We will watch film and continue to get better and luckily we see them next week and we will be ready.”

Tina Charles
What did Connecticut do to give you problems tonight?
“They kept us on our heels, they attacked it was the same in preseason. They are much more physical, much more confident in all aspects of the game”

On what they need to do the next time the see Connecticut in nine days (the Sun and Liberty will play again on Friday at Madison Square Garden):
“We need to be just as physical and just confident and play Liberty basketball. We need to take something from the four-games in a row that we won and just carry it over.”

—Staff Reports