Sun beat Lynx 92-82, force Game 5 in WNBA semifinals with second-half comeback

Emily Adams, Hartford Courant on Oct 6, 2024

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UNCASVILLE, Conn. — The Connecticut Sun bounced back from an ugly Game 3 loss to keep their season alive in the WNBA semifinals with a 92-82 win over the Minnesota Lynx at Mohegan Sun Arena on Sunday.

The series now returns to the No. 2 Lynx’s home court in Minneapolis for a win-or-go-home Game 5 on Tuesday. No. 3 Connecticut has reached at least the second round of the playoffs for eight consecutive seasons but has appeared in the WNBA Finals just twice over that period, most recently in 2022 when it lost the series 3-1 to the Las Vegas Aces. Minnesota has not been the finals since winning the WNBA championship in 2017.

Veteran superstars Alyssa Thomas and DeWanna Bonner led the way for Connecticut with historic stat lines in the win. Thomas finished just short of a triple-double with 18 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds, extending her lead as the only WNBA player to record more than 20 games of 10-plus points, 5-plus rebounds and 5-plus assists in the playoffs. Bonner’s 18 points marked her 63rd career postseason game scoring in double-digits, second only to UConn legend Diana Taurasi’s 67. She also led the team in steals with four and matched Thomas’s eight rebounds.

The Sun returned to their usual starting lineup with Tyasha Harris at point guard for the first time since she suffered an ankle injury in Game 2 of the first-round series. Though Connecticut’s first quarter was still somewhat sluggish, bringing Marina Mabrey in as an elite scoring threat off the bench made a difference. She was wildly inefficient in Game 3 but was more selective on Sunday, going 3 for 5 from the field before halftime for seven points. Veronica Burton also gave the Sun critical minutes off the bench, logging two steals and four points in just seven first-half minutes.

Connecticut’s defense was significantly more disruptive than it had been previously in the series, forcing seven turnovers on five steals in the first half alone. DiJonai Carrington, the WNBA’s Most Improved Player in 2024, added a pair of steals to Burton’s and led the team offensively with 11 points shooting 4 for 6 from the field.

But though the Sun shot 60% on 3-pointers and nearly 47% from the field in the first half, Minnesota kept finding new weapons to throw at them. Former Connecticut guard Natisha Hiedeman was the Lynx’s No. 2 scorer before halftime with 12 points after logging four or less in every previous meeting in the series. Collier also had a near double-double in the first half with 14 points and nine rebounds, and Hiedeman hit a buzzer-beater nearly 30 feet from the basket to send Minnesota into the locker room leading 50-43.

The Sun came out swinging in the third quarter, anchored by their veteran leaders. Harris kicked off a 7-3 run for Connecticut with her second 3-pointer of the game, and Thomas and Bonner combined for nine points in two minutes to tie the score 57-57 midway through the third. Bonner’s game-tying shot was assisted by Thomas.

Bonner gave the Sun their first lead with an alley-oop from Carrington late in the third, and the volume at Mohegan Sun Arena rose to a new decibel as Mabrey made it a two-score game on a 3-pointer from the corner in transition. By the end of the quarter, the Sun had five players with more than 10 points. The Lynx struggled to find the same production down their roster as they did in Game 3, finishing with only one starter in double digits.

Connecticut continued to extend the lead into the fourth, opening up its largest margin of the game with a 6-2 run over the first three minutes to force a Minnesota timeout. The Sun created three of their 13 turnovers in the fourth quarter, and they finished with 13 points off of the Lynx’s lost possessions. Connecticut also controlled the transition game, holding Minnesota to just two fast-break points while scoring six.

Harris was difference-maker for the Sun after she played 13 combined minutes in Games 2 and 3. The point guard finished with 20 points shooting 7 for 11 from the field and 4 for 5 from 3-point range. It was her highest-scoring performance since she logged 23 against the Washington Mystics on June 27. Carrington also added a well-rounded stat line with 15 points, five rebounds and three assists plus a block.

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