The Sun opened the 2019 WNBA season with an 84-69 win over the Washington Mystics in front of 7,913 fans at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT. Alyssa Thomas led all scorers with 23 points and was one of three Sun starters in double-figures.
Jonquel Jones picked a double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds to go along with two steals and three blocks. 11 of her rebounds came on the defensive glass.
Jasmine Thomas rounded out the trio in double-figures by scoring 13 points. She also had six assists and three rebounds in the win for Connecticut.
Sun forward Morgan Tuck had eight points off the bench, including 2-of-3 from behind the arc, to go along with two rebounds.
Emma Meesseman led the Mystics with 14 points. She was joined in double-figures by Kristi Toliver (11), Shatori Walker-Kimbrough (11) and Ariel Atkins (10).
CONNECTICUT SUN QUOTES
Alyssa Thomas
Who would you credit teaching you the game, the decision making, being an intelligent player? – “I’ve been playing multiple positions since a young age. One of my strengths is my decision making and creating plays. Nobody is perfect, you are going to make mistakes but I keep coming at them.”
Where does it come from? – “My parents, I have been playing from a young age, multiple positions and it’s just how my game is. I’ve been around for a while, watching video, watching people play. I’ve just been taught the game the right way.”
Jonquel Jones
What do you think makes AT [Alyssa Thomas] so hard to defend? – “She’s playing at a four position, she’s a post player, she is able to just take the ball and dribble. For most post players, someone that good, coming at you downhill, it’s unstoppable. She has the spin move when you try to body her, she’s strong if you try to body her, she can finish with both hands, so I think that is what makes her really tough. Someone running down at them full speed like that, they don’t know what to do.”
WASHINGTON MYSTICS QUOTES
Head Coach Mike Thibault
On playing shorthanded with no (Elena) Delle Donne or (Ariel) Powers and the injury to (Kristi) Toliver – “It’s hard, but everybody goes through it. Luckily for us and hopefully it only lasts a short amount of time at the start of the year and we get better as we go. It’s ugly to watch and when Kristi got hurt, I’m a little concerned about it. We will see when she gets home and sees the docs.”
On what happened on the play that she got hurt – “She got kneed and then twisted it, so we will see. I’m not a doctor, so I don’t know.”
Emma Meesseman
On what went wrong tonight – “We were shorthanded to start with and that didn’t help for sure. We started out well, but then our shots didn’t fall and we just lost our focus on defense a little bit. We did see some good stuff too and we have a week to prepare for our next game and that is going to help us a lot.”
On the good things she saw – “We came back in the first half by driving to the basket and being really aggressive and playing good defense. We know what it takes to win, it just wasn’t there for 40 minutes.”
Shatori Walker-Kimbrough
On what went wrong in the third quarter getting outscored 23-12 – “We knew they were a third-quarter team coming in. They did what they had to do and we had a hard time adjusting to it, but we will continue to learn from it. Kudos, hats off to them.”
On how hard it is being down two of their top players tonight – “We just have to step up and do our job. We are more than capable of stepping up, injuries happen, anything can happen and we just to have to make sure stay ready.”
Listen to the full post-game press conference with Connecticut Sun Head Coach Curt Miller below.
Just Shooting Hoops 