By Bob Phillips
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Alyssa
Thomas drives the lane but is fouled by Washington’s
Tierra Ruffin-Pratt (right). Thomas hit the go-ahead basket to cap a 22-point comeback in the Sun’s win over the Mystics. |
Jonquel Jones led
the Sun with 22 points. While Alyssa Thomas, who hit the go-ahead jumper with
36 seconds left in regulation, dropped in 19. Jasmine Thomas (15), and Shekinna
Strickland and Courtney Williams (12 points each) also scored in double digits for
Connecticut. Strickland’s total came on four shots drained from beyond the arc.
She leads the Sun with 38 treys.
Elena Delle Donne
led all scorers with 28 points—her high watermark for the season—while Kristi
Toliver (17), Emma Meessemen (a season-high 16 points) and Tierra Ruffin-Pratt
(10) scored double digits for Washington.
The 22-point
comeback topped the team’s previous come-from-behind victory when they overcame
a 19-point deficit against the Phoenix Mercury in 2006. It was just two-points
shy of the WNBA’s all-time comeback—a distinction held by these same Mystics
vs. the LA Sparks in 2011.
Down by eight at
the first turn and 15 at intermission, the Sun trailed 75-53 with 5:03 left in
the third. But a layup by Jones ignited a 20-6 Connecticut run to close the
quarter and cut the Washington advantage to a manageable eight points.
The Sun kept the rally going, opening the fourth on buckets as
scores by Lynetta Kizer, Courtney Williams, and Alex Bentley (eight points,
three rebounds, three assists). That got Connecticut within two, 81-79. But the
Sun didn’t draw even until 4:32 remained in
regulation on an Alyssa Thomas basket. From that point forward the game went
back and forth—with a total of five ties. But with 36.4 seconds remaining, a
basket by Alyssa Thomas finally gave the Sun a two point lead, 94-92. Free
throws by Williams and Jones in the closing seconds sealed the deal for
Connecticut, which hasn’t made it into the postseason since 2012, which, not
coincidentally was current Mystic coach Mike Thibault’s last season as head
coach of the Sun.
“The game changed
in the third quarter when they were allowed to hold and grab and get away with
a lot of that stuff,” said Thibault, the most successful coach in Sun history,
after the game.
“You know I’m so proud of the team tonight,”
said Sun head coach Curt Miller. “That’s a huge win, and in the manner
that it happened is pretty incredible. The thing that I’m most pleased about is
that they stuck together, they didn’t panic… They kept believing and we kept
attacking.”
Miller went on to praise his subs.
“Our bench gave us great minutes,” he continued. “Alex
(Bentley) and Kayla (Pedersen) have the two best plus-minus on the stats sheets.
Our bench provided us with a spark, and we were able to go with some big
lineups with Kayla in there.
“I couldn’t be more proud. With
all our injuries and adversity, top to bottom, [it’s] pretty remarkable that at
the midway point, we sit at first place in the East.”
“We are tired of losing,” said Jasmine Thomas after the game,
when asked to comment on the team’s historic comeback. “No matter how much we get down—we’ve had some games where we
have gotten down a little bit and let those games go—on home court, we just
made a decision tonight we were going to
fight until the end, and the game turned around in our favor. We really believe
that if we play together as a team we can beat anybody.”
With the win—the fourth in a row, and eighth in the last 10
games for the Sun—Connecticut improves to 10-7 and moves into first place in
the WNBA Eastern Conference. It was the Mystics’ first loss to an Eastern
Conference foe this season. Washington falls to 10-8, 1/2 game behind
Connecticut.
The Sun now head west for a two-game West Coast trip. First
up will be a stop in Seattle where the Sun will take on Breanna Stewart, Sue
Bird and the Seattle Storm on Wednesday. Tip-off is at 3 p.m. Eastern, and the
game is available on WNBA League Pass.
They then head down the Left Coast to play the Los Angeles Sparks on Thursday.
That came starts at 10:30 p.m., and can also be seen on League Pass.
Jones, Thomas Honored
This past week, two key players on the Connecticut Sun
roster were honored by the WNBA. On Wednesday, guard Jasmine Thomas was named
the WNBA’s Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played June 26
through July 2. It was the second time Thomas earned Player of the Week honors in
her seven WNBA seasons. She joined teammates Jonquel Jones and Alyssa Thomas to
make Connecticut the first team in WNBA history to have three different players
win the Player of the Week award in three consecutive weeks.
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| Jasmine Thomas |
In leading the Sun to a 2-1 week, Thomas paced Eastern
Conference players in scoring (23.3 points per game) and three-pointers made
(12), tied for sixth in field goal percentage (.520, 26-of-50) and tied for
seventh in assists (4.0 per game). Her week featured a career-high 29-point
effort in the Sun’s 96-89 win over the visiting Seattle Storm on June 29. The
5-9 Thomas shot 12-of-16 from the field, including 4-of-6 from three-point
range, and added six assists, four rebounds and two steals.
Thomas opened her week with 19 points, three assists and
three rebounds in Connecticut’s 87-79 loss to the Los Angeles Sparks on June
27. In her final game of the week, the former Duke star posted 22 points and
three assists in a 91-85 at Indiana on July 1.
Also on Wednesday, the WNBA named Jonquel
Jones the WNBA Eastern Conference Player of the Month for games played in
June. It was the first Player of the Month award for Jones, who led the Sun to
a 6-2 record in June after the team got off to a 1-5 start to the season.
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| Jonquel Jones |
In June, Jones ranked first among East players in rebounding
(11.9 per game) and blocked shots
(2.13) and was 11thh in scoring (15.6). A
second-year pro, Jones had five Double-Doubles in eight games. She also ranked
eighth in the East in field goal percentage (.527, on 48-for-91 shooting from
the field).
Jones’ month was highlighted by a 20-point, 15-rebound,
five-block performance in Connecticut’s highest-scoring game of the season, a
104-71 thrashing of the Atlanta Dream on June 10 at the Mohegan Sun Arena. She
followed that performance with a 19-point, 12-rebound, three-assist performance
in a 96-76 win over the New York Liberty on June 14, also at the Mohegan Sun
Arena. The former George Washington University star finished with 21 points and
seven rebounds in a 94-89 win at New York on June 23, and closed her
outstanding month with three consecutive Double-D’s, including 13 points and 10
rebounds in 25 minutes in a 96-89 win over the Seattle Storm on June 29 at the
Mohegan Sun Arena.
—with staff reports
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