By Tiffany Williams –
The Connecticut Sun fought back from a 20-point first-half deficit but could not finish the comeback Sunday, falling 101-89 to the Minnesota Lynx at Mohegan Sun Arena in the second-to-last home game in franchise history. Across the NFL, Week 2 delivered overtime finishes, late comebacks and record-setting performances, while Sunday’s WNBA and Major League Baseball schedules and a packed Saturday night in Major League Soccer added to a busy sports weekend.
SUN RALLY FROM 20 DOWN BUT LYNX HOLD ON
Connecticut fell to 10-32 after battling Minnesota deep into the second half before the Lynx pulled away for the 101-89 victory. Diamond Miller, Leila Lacan and Gianna Kneepkens scored 15 points apiece for Connecticut, while Aaliyah Edwards finished with 12 and Raegan Beers added 11 off the bench.
Charlisse Leger-Walker gave Connecticut another strong all-around performance with 10 points, eight assists, five rebounds, one steal and one block. Five Sun players reached double figures, including two reserves, as Connecticut finished with 22 assists.
Minnesota came out firing.
Napheesa Collier scored back-to-back baskets to open her first game against Connecticut this season, and the Lynx quickly established control. Courtney Williams scored seven straight Minnesota points during the opening quarter, while Natasha Howard and Collier continued attacking inside.
Minnesota’s advantage reached 17 with three minutes remaining in the opening period before Kneepkens and Ashlon Jackson sparked a 5-0 Connecticut run. The Lynx still carried a 27-12 advantage into the second quarter.
Connecticut responded with its biggest offensive quarter of the afternoon.
Kneepkens opened the second with a three-pointer, and Miller, Lacan and Nell Angloma later connected from beyond the arc. Lacan became particularly aggressive, turning a forced turnover into a three-pointer and later scoring five consecutive points as Connecticut cut what had been a 20-point Minnesota advantage to 11.
Leger-Walker and Kneepkens kept the pressure on before Minnesota carried a 55-43 advantage into halftime.
The Sun refused to disappear.
Miller connected from three-point range twice early in the third quarter, Edwards attacked the basket and Kneepkens knocked down another three to establish a new career high. Beers then converted a three-point play to pull Connecticut within eight.
Jackson followed with another three before Minnesota answered. Beers converted another contested basket and the ensuing free throw as Connecticut continued threatening the Lynx.
Minnesota entered the fourth quarter leading 76-67.
Beers scored twice early in the final period, but Minnesota responded behind Dorka Juhasz, Olivia Miles, Williams and Howard. The Lynx rebuilt their advantage to 16 before Connecticut made another push.
Leger-Walker connected on a late three, Kneepkens added free throws and Liatu King scored from midrange, but Minnesota maintained control. Hailey Van Lith drove to the basket on Connecticut’s final possession to close the scoring.
Connecticut finished 15-of-28 from three-point range, shooting 53.6%, while Minnesota went just 4-of-21. The 15 made threes represented a season high for the Sun and tied Minnesota’s season low for three-pointers allowed.
The difference came elsewhere.
Minnesota dominated the paint 50-32 and produced 20 second-chance points compared with five for Connecticut. The Lynx also forced 20 turnovers and converted them into 25 points, while Connecticut forced 11 turnovers and scored 13 points from them.
Connecticut’s bench held a major advantage, outscoring Minnesota’s reserves 37-14.
Kneepkens and Beers each established new career highs. Kneepkens finished with 15 points and Beers scored 11, surpassing the previous career high of 10 for both players.
Collier led Minnesota with 23 points, while Howard grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. McBride and Miles each finished with six assists.
The Sun now have two games remaining.
Connecticut travels to Washington, D.C., Tuesday for a 7:30 p.m. matchup against the Mystics at CareFirst Arena. It will be the Sun’s final road game in franchise history before Connecticut returns to Mohegan Sun Arena for its final game.
NFL WEEK 2 DELIVERS RECORDS AND LATE DRAMA
Sunday’s NFL schedule produced blowouts, overtime finishes, major individual milestones and four teams scoring the winning points during the final four minutes of regulation or overtime.
Carolina delivered one of the afternoon’s most decisive victories, routing Atlanta 34-3. Bryce Young passed for 287 yards and three touchdowns, while Devin Lloyd recorded nine tackles, three passes defensed, two tackles for loss and two interceptions, including a 16-yard interception return for a touchdown.
The Panthers have now scored at least 30 points in each of their first two games for the first time in franchise history.
Young followed a 361-yard, three-touchdown performance in Week 1 by becoming only the second quarterback under 26 to record at least 285 passing yards, three touchdown passes and a passer rating of at least 110 in each of his team’s first two games. Kyler Murray accomplished it with Arizona in 2021.
Minnesota defeated Chicago 9-3 behind a defensive battle. Justin Jefferson finished with 55 receiving yards and reached 8,627 for his career, passing DeAndre Hopkins for the second-most receiving yards by a player before turning 28.
Philadelphia improved to 2-0 with a 24-20 victory over Tennessee. Jalen Hurts threw for 264 yards and DeVonta Smith finished with 117 receiving yards.
New England shut down Pittsburgh in a 20-3 victory. Drake Maye threw for 208 yards, TreVeyon Henderson rushed for 76 and Romeo Doubs led the game with 96 receiving yards.
Green Bay needed overtime to beat the New York Jets 20-17.
Jordan Love threw two touchdown passes without an interception in his 50th career start. Love now has 19 starts with multiple touchdown passes and no interceptions, passing Russell Wilson for the second-most such performances through a quarterback’s first 50 starts.
The overtime finish continued another early-season NFL trend. For the fifth time in the past six seasons, each of the first two weeks has included at least one overtime game.
Cleveland defeated Tampa Bay 23-19, while New Orleans went into Baltimore and knocked off the Ravens 24-17. Denver beat Jacksonville 20-13 after overcoming a 10-point second-half deficit.
CINCINNATI STAYS PERFECT AS BURROW AND CHASE MAKE HISTORY
Cincinnati improved to 2-0 with a 20-6 road victory over Houston, and the Joe Burrow-Ja’Marr Chase connection reached another milestone.
Chase caught seven passes for 75 yards and two touchdowns. Burrow and Chase have now connected for 50 career touchdowns, becoming one of only four quarterback-receiver combinations in NFL history to reach 50 while both players were under 30.
Chase also reached 56 career touchdown receptions, tying Dez Bryant for the fourth-most by a player under 27.
His 14 career games with multiple touchdown receptions tied Rob Gronkowski and Jerry Rice for the second-most by a player under 27. Randy Moss holds the mark with 17.
Chase also reached 529 receptions through 80 career games, passing Amon-Ra St. Brown for second-most through that point of a career. Michael Thomas leads with 560.
COWBOYS ROLL AS PRESCOTT TAKES FRANCHISE TOUCHDOWN RECORD
Dallas defeated Washington 37-20 behind a huge afternoon from Dak Prescott.
Prescott passed for 279 yards and four touchdowns while producing a 143.8 passer rating. The four scores pushed him to 249 career touchdown passes, moving him past Tony Romo for the most in Cowboys history.
Prescott also extended his remarkable divisional streak at home. He has now won 20 consecutive home starts against NFC East opponents, tying Tom Brady’s 20 consecutive home victories against AFC East opponents from 2007 through 2014 for the longest such streak by a starting quarterback since 1970.
CeeDee Lamb led the game with 153 receiving yards, while Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels led all rushers with 69 yards.
PURDY MAKES NFL HISTORY AS 49ERS CRUSH MIAMI
San Francisco quarterback Brock Purdy delivered one of the biggest performances of Sunday.
Purdy completed 20 of 22 passes for 287 yards and two touchdowns while adding a rushing touchdown in San Francisco’s 35-13 victory over Miami. His 90.9% completion percentage and 149.1 passer rating highlighted a dominant afternoon.
Purdy became the first player in NFL history to complete at least 90% of his passes while throwing for at least 285 yards and two touchdowns and adding a rushing touchdown in the same game.
It was Purdy’s eighth career game with a passer rating of at least 140, the most by a player through his first five seasons. He also reached 13 career games with a rating of at least 130, another NFL record through a player’s first five seasons.
Christian McCaffrey rushed for two touchdowns and reached 100 career scrimmage touchdowns in his 114th game. He became the fourth-fastest player to reach the milestone during the Super Bowl era, behind LaDainian Tomlinson, Emmitt Smith and Shaun Alexander.
McCaffrey has now scored exactly 50 scrimmage touchdowns with Carolina and 50 with San Francisco. He joins Marshall Faulk and Randy Moss as the only players in NFL history with at least 50 scrimmage touchdowns for multiple franchises.
SEAHAWKS ROLL AS SMITH-NJIGBA EXPLODES
Seattle crushed Arizona 31-7 behind another massive performance from Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
Smith-Njigba caught nine passes for 155 yards and three touchdowns after opening the season with eight receptions for 122 yards and a touchdown.
He became the fifth receiver in NFL history to record at least eight catches, 120 receiving yards and a touchdown in each of his team’s first two games.
Seattle is one of seven teams to reach 2-0 through Sunday’s games.
RAIDERS OPEN 2-0 BEHIND COUSINS
Las Vegas defeated the Los Angeles Chargers 26-14 as Kirk Cousins threw for 253 yards and three touchdowns.
Cousins, 38, also threw three touchdowns in Week 1. He became only the third quarterback age 38 or older to throw at least three touchdown passes in each of his team’s first two games, joining Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.
The Raiders became the first team since the 2014 Houston Texans to begin a season 2-0 after winning three or fewer games the previous year.
SUNDAY NFL SCOREBOARD FILLED WITH CLOSE FINISHES
Elsewhere, Philadelphia defeated Tennessee 24-20, Cleveland beat Tampa Bay 23-19 and New Orleans knocked off Baltimore 24-17.
Denver defeated Jacksonville 20-13, while Green Bay’s 20-17 overtime victory over the Jets was one of the day’s tightest finishes. Kansas City also went to overtime before defeating Indianapolis 33-30, with Patrick Mahomes throwing for 382 yards and Travis Kelce recording 101 receiving yards.
Seven games during Week 2 were within one score during the fourth quarter, with six decided by eight points or fewer. Cleveland, Green Bay, New Orleans and Philadelphia all recorded the winning score during the final four minutes of regulation or overtime.
The week concludes Monday night when the New York Giants travel to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, to face the Los Angeles Rams. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:15 p.m.
WNBA SUNDAY FEATURES BIG PERFORMANCES ACROSS THE LEAGUE
Minnesota’s 101-89 victory over Connecticut was one of five games on Sunday’s WNBA schedule.
New York overwhelmed Toronto 106-69 as Breanna Stewart scored 27 points. Laura Juskaite scored 28 in the loss for Toronto.
Washington defeated Indiana 93-77 behind 21 points from Kiki Iriafen. Caitlin Clark led Indiana with 25.
Los Angeles rolled past Portland 105-84, with Nneka Ogwumike scoring 20 points for the winner and Carla Leite finishing with 23 for Portland.
Las Vegas closed the night with a 98-77 victory over Seattle. A’ja Wilson poured in 30 points for Las Vegas, while Flau’jae Johnson scored 29 for Seattle.
Two games are scheduled Monday. Atlanta visits New York at 8 p.m., followed by Dallas at Phoenix at 10 p.m.
MLB SUNDAY DELIVERS SHUTOUTS AND DIVISIONAL BATTLES
Major League Baseball’s Sunday schedule included three shutouts and several decisive victories.
Philadelphia defeated the New York Mets 7-2, while Pittsburgh edged Kansas City 4-3. Cleveland shut out the Athletics 1-0 behind winning pitcher Gavin Williams and a save from Cade Smith.
Tampa Bay defeated Boston 5-1, with Griffin Jax earning the victory and Patrick Sandoval taking the loss.
The Chicago Cubs rolled past Cincinnati 9-1, Atlanta defeated Houston 4-2 and the Chicago White Sox routed Detroit 8-1.
St. Louis beat Washington 5-3, Toronto defeated Texas 7-2 and Seattle edged Colorado 2-1.
Minnesota shut out the Los Angeles Angels 8-0, while San Diego defeated Miami 7-3.
Arizona beat the New York Yankees 8-4, the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated San Francisco 3-1 and Milwaukee shut out Baltimore 3-0.
REVOLUTION SCORE FOUR AS MLS SATURDAY PRODUCES GOALS
The New England Revolution delivered one of Saturday’s biggest MLS performances with a 4-2 victory over Orlando at Gillette Stadium in front of 26,100.
Columbus won 2-0 at Montreal, while Charlotte defeated D.C. United 2-1. San Jose and LAFC finished 2-2, Dallas and Austin played to a scoreless draw, and Houston and Cincinnati finished 2-2.
The LA Galaxy won a five-goal match at Minnesota, 3-2, while Philadelphia survived a seven-goal battle at Kansas City with a 4-3 victory.
St. Louis defeated Toronto 3-1, and Colorado and Seattle played to a 3-3 draw.
Nashville shut out Chicago 3-0, Vancouver won 3-0 at Real Salt Lake and Atlanta finished the Saturday slate with a 1-0 road victory over Portland.
From Connecticut’s fight during one of its final nights at Mohegan Sun Arena to NFL records falling across the country, the weekend delivered another packed sports schedule. Now the Sun face their final road trip, seven NFL teams remain unbeaten through Sunday, and Monday night brings another national NFL stage as Week 2 comes to a close.