The Connecticut Sun continued its playoff push Wednesday night at Mohegan Sun Arena, pulling away for a 92-77 victory over the New York Liberty. It was the third straight win for the Sun (15-12), who finished 2-1 against the Liberty (7-19). The Sun had 21 assists on 36 made field goals with 11 threes on 26 attempts from behind the arc. This is the Sun’s sixth game this year to hit 10 or more three’s against their opponents. Connecticut also had a 38-33 edge in rebounds.
Jonquel Jones led the Sun with 21 points, including four of Connecticut’s 11 made threes. In the last two games, she has seven three-pointers and is averaging 22 points.
Courtney Williams added 17 points, eight rebounds, and six assists while Chiney Ogwumike (12 points, six rebounds) and Shekinna Stricklen (10 points) also scored in double figures. Alyssa Thomas pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds.
For New York, Sugar Rodgers had 16 points to lead four Liberty players in double figures. Brittany Boyd and Amanda Zahui B each had 14 and Tina Charles added 12 points.
After the game, Connecticut Sun Head Coach Curt Miller commented — “That was a big one. I’m proud of our fight, New York came right at us out of halftime, and it’s one of those situations where we have lost our composure at times through this year when people have made big runs at us. Tonight, we got an edge, had a little bit of fight in us and played a little bit angry. I like seeing them a little angry with an edge. I was really proud that we answered that run. I think that’s our third game in a row that you have to credit our defense. They really put you on the move with Sugar (Rodgers), Kia Nurse and Bria Hartley. They run you around and we stayed in plays. If you take away the last minute with Sugar, we did a really nice job on their wings, and we thought that was the key. We tried to double the ball out of Tina’s (Charles) hands tonight and she is fantastic, but only giving her 11 shot attempts – she averages 17-19 on a typical night – we kept her shot attempts down. The aggressive doubles from the guards really made Tina have to give the ball up early. I’m proud of our defense, the third straight game that we’re doing some good things at that end and we need that end in order to accomplish some of our goals and make the playoffs. It’s really nice to be officially out of the eight-hole, at least for a night. Big win, another day off and then another two-day prep for a big game with Vegas. We’re excited about this stretch – we talked about this three-game homestand being big – we have one more really big one against Las Vegas.”
The Sun will be home again August 5th, celebrating Breast Health Awareness when they host the Las Vegas Aces at 3 p.m. The Liberty take on the Indiana Fever on their home court on August 4th.
Listen to the full post-game press conference with Connecticut Sun Head Coach Curt Miller below.
See photos from the game below, or visit the gallery here for full-size images.
Just Shooting Hoops 