The Connecticut Sun will bring plenty of momentum from a gritty, come-from-behind win when they square off against the enigmatic Dallas Wings on Tuesday at Arlington, Texas, in the final game before the WNBA All-Star break for each team.
The teams have split the first two games of the season series, both of which were played back-to-back at Connecticut, with Dallas winning 85-77 on May 24 and the Sun responding with a 99-68 victory two days later.
The Sun (14-7) enter after a thrilling 74-72 overtime win against Washington at home Sunday. Alyssa Thomas scored a game-high 23 points for Connecticut – including four in OT – as the Sun rallied behind its defense to force the extra period.
The Sun allowed just 23 combined points after halftime and survived when Washington missed shots in the final seconds that could have tied or won the game.
Courtney Williams added 15 points for Connecticut, with Natisha Hiedeman hitting for 14 and Jonquel Jones scoring 11. The Sun trailed by 15 at halftime but climbed back in the game by outscoring Washington 20-10 in the third quarter.
“I don’t know if there’s enough adjectives to describe the toughness, the grittiness that we had in the second half,” Connecticut coach Curt Miller said. “They stuck together. I really give our players a lot of credit for sticking together and for how hard we had to play to earn a win from way down.”
Dallas (9-12) will try to rebound from a 97-89 loss to the Los Angeles Sparks at home on Friday. Arike Ogunbowale led the Wings with 23 points, with Marina Mabrey scoring 17 points and Teaira McCowan adding 12 points with 10 rebounds.
“We really just need to put it all together,” Mabrey said. “We do some things well one night and don’t the next. We fix one thing, then we make mistakes on others. It’s just about having that full focus.”
Dallas has dropped three straight games and four of its last five. The Wings have a 13-point margin of defeat in those four last four setbacks, mostly due to a 92-64 blowout loss against the Minnesota Lynx last Tuesday.
–Field Level Media
