By DJ Harding
The Connecticut Sun returned home after playing two games on the road. Their opponent is the Minnesota Lynx who will face them two straight games today and Tuesday.
Going into tonight the Sun sit in third place with a record of 18-6 while the Lynx are seventh holding a 12-13 record.
Both teams are also missing key players going into tonight. Connecticut obviously missing Brionna Jones as they have missed for most of the season while Minnesota is missing star scorer Napheesa Collier who is out with a right ankle injury. Collier is fourth in scoring this season averaging 21.8 points per game.
DeWanna Bonner got hot in the first quarter scoring 12 points which led all scorers. Bonner ended the night with 31 points leading all scorers. Bonner also became the first player in Sun franchise history to have back to back 30 point games.
Despite Bonner’s first quarter output the Sun were down by two points losing 23-21 to the Lynx. Minnesota after one quarter were led by the rookies Diamond Miller and Dorka Juhasz who each had 5 points.
Miller, the number two pick in the draft finished the night with 7 points.
Juhasz, who is making her return to Connecticut after attending UConn for college, had 11 points and 6 rebounds.
By Halftime Bonner still led all scorers but the Sun still trailed 48-44. For the Lynx Ariel Powers was their leading scorer with 14 points.
Powers scored 14 by the end of the game, not scoring after halftime.
Alyssa Thomas backed up Bonner’s 16 points at halftime with 8 of her own. Thomas had 8 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists. Thomas leads the league in double-double (16) and triple-doubles (3).
Thomas would pick up Triple-Double number 4 and Double-Double number 17 with 17 points, 14 rebounds, and 11 assists.
Minnesota kept their lead after the third quarter leading 68-61. Natisha Hiedeman hit a buzzer beating three to bring the lead within seven to end the quarter.
Heideman would have 9 points and 2 assists in the loss.
For the Lynx along with Powers, Kayla McBride led them in scoring with 14 points through three quarters. Mcbride in the win scored 19 points which led the Lynx in scoring.
Minnesota stopped any comeback attempt by Connecticut including a clutch block by Juhasz and a DeWanna Bonner game winning three point attempt.
“It was tough, she got a hand on it and I’ll learn from it.” Bonner said postgame
During the game Tiffany Hayes reached 1000 career rebounds after grabbing 4 during the game. Hayes also added 3 points to her 4 rebound performance.
Connecticut shot 38% from the field and 17% from three.
“We didn’t have it today. We missed a lot of layups, did well on free throws but we had too many moments where we held the basketball. We need to make more opportunities and we didn’t do well because we didn’t follow the system.” Coach White mentioned postgame.
Connecticut falls to 18-7 after tonight while Minnesota improves to 13-13.
“We have to be better down the stretch and there’s no nights off in this league because it’s a tough league to be in.” Bonner commented postgame
The two teams will see each other again on Tuesday for a rematch and their final matchup of the season. Tip off on August 1 is scheduled for 7:00 pm EST.