DeWanna Bonner paired 20 points with eight rebounds as the Connecticut Sun pulled away from the visiting Washington Mystics to remain undefeated, winning 76-59 in a WNBA Commissioner’s Cup game on Tuesday at Uncasville, Conn.
Brionna Jones added 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting for the Sun, who became the seventh team in WNBA history to begin a season 9-0. All of the previous six reached the WNBA Finals, with three winning the championship. Alyssa Thomas tallied seven points, seven rebounds and seven assists as Connecticut beat Washington for the seventh-straight time.
Mystics rookie and former UConn star Aaliyah Edwards bundled a career-high 14 points with nine rebounds for Washington, which set a franchise record with its ninth-straight loss to open the season. Myisha Hines-Allen supplied 10 points off the bench for the Mystics.
The Sun seized control by outscoring Washington 26-10 in the third quarter to flip their one-point halftime deficit into a 58-43 lead.
Connecticut blitzed the Mystics by opening the third quarter on a 13-2 run, which Tyasha Harris capped with a trey to give the Sun their first double-digit lead at 45-35 with 5:24 left in the period. Harris scored eight points in the third and finished with 14.
Washington didn’t hit a shot in the second half until Julie Vanloo’s 3-pointer at the 5:07 mark pulled the Mystics within 45-38. Vanloo finished with five points and five assists. Connecticut went up 51-40 on Bonner’s triple with 3:15 left in the third and led by at least 10 for the rest of the game.
The Sun shot 47.4 percent from the field and held Washington to 31.3 percent shooting as the Mystics finished with their lowest point total this season.
Bonner scored 10 points in the first quarter, including five during an 8-1 run that sprung the Sun ahead 19-12. Washington kept Connecticut scoreless over the period’s final 1:58 to pull within 19-18 entering the second.
The Sun pushed their lead to 29-24 midway through the second stanza before going over four minutes without a field goal as the Mystics pulled even at 30 with 2:25 left.
After Harris’s jumper ended Connecticut’s shooting drought with 50 seconds left, Vanloo found Stafanie Dolson in the left corner for a 3-pointer in the closing seconds that propelled Washington into halftime leading 33-32.
–Field Level Media