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Mohegan – Connecticut Sun head coach Curt Miller learned more than an hour before Tuesday night’s game that his team would secure a playoff berth with a win over the Las Vegas Aces.
Connecticut started punching its ticket by hitting Aces.
The Sun once again slowed the league’s most scoring team and beat Las Vegas in a battle between the first-place teams, 76-62, to sweep the regular-season three-game streak before 4,012 in the Mohegan Sun Arena.
It was the Sun’s sixth consecutive win and the third time this season they held the Aces under 70 points. The latter averaged a record 90.5 points.
“So proud of our effort, our tenacity, our tenacity tonight against an elite team,” said Miller. “They’re playing at the fastest pace. They are the league leaders in points in the paint. You call it, offensively, analytically, the best in the league. And they have great depth.
“For us to keep them again in the ’60s is just credit for how hard we play (defensively) at this end of the pitch.”
Connecticut (18-6) also took sole control of the top spot after the Minnesota Lynxes knocked out defending WNBA champion Seattle Storm 76-70.
DeWanna Bonner scored 14 of her 18 points in the second half along with nine rebounds, four assists and three steals for Connecticut.
Briann January had a hot hand in the first half for the Sun. She scored 12 of her 19 season records in that half as well as three interceptions.
Brionna Jones had 15 points, eight rebounds and four steals, Jonquel Jones added eight points and 10 rebounds and Jasmine Thomas scored eight with six assists.
Chelsea Gray scored 15 points for the Aces (17-7) and Liz Cambage had 13 points and six rebounds. Dearica Hamby scored 13 on the bench.
It was a huge win for Connecticut given the WNBA’s playoff format. The top two seeds, regardless of the conference, get a double pass to the best-of-three semi-finals.
The third and fourth seeds are given a pass to the second round knockout. The fifth to eighth seeds play in a first round knockout match.
Connecticut used the long ball late in the game to pull away with a 9-3 run. Bonner, Charles and Thomas each made one to push the Sun’s lead to 72-58 with 3 minutes and 25 seconds left.
Bonner also had two huge blocks over A’ja Wilson in the Connecticut run. Wilson, the reigning WNBA MVP, missed 14 of 15 shots for four points with five rebounds. She started the night as the league’s fifth-leading scorer (19.4 points per game).
The Sun led most of the game. January 3 tied the score at 22 with 6:36 left in the first half.
Brionna Jones followed with a 16-foot tilt shot to give her team the lead to stay 24-22 with 5:56 left in the half.
Etess, Heussler honored
Former Sun stalwarts Mitchell Etess and Bob Heussler were honored by the Sun at halftime.
Etess was the former Mohegan Gaming and Entertainment executive who was instrumental in the Sun’s move from Orlando to Connecticut in 2003.
Heussler was the longtime Sun play-by-play man. He was the franchise’s first voice when it debuted in 2003 and held that role until 2019. He called the Fairfield men’s basketball games for 32 seasons and occasionally works on radio for the Brooklyn Nets.
News and Notes
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert attended the game as part of her tour of the league. … Connecticut will host Family Fun Night when it hosts the Los Angeles Sparks on Thursday (7). This is the first meeting between the two this season.
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