Sun take Game 1 against top seed

Seventh-seeded Connecticut opens WNBA semifinals with dominant win.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Jasmine Thomas had a career-high 31 points, Alyssa Thomas scored 18 points and the Connecticut Sun pulled away early and cruised to an 87-62 win over the Las Vegas Aces in Game 1 of the best-of-five WNBA semifinals Sunday.

Alyssa Thomas had six rebounds, five assists, five steals and two blocks. Natisha Hiedeman was four for four from three-point range and finished with 14 points for Connecticut.

The seventh-seeded Sun beat No. 6 seed Chicago and the third-seeded Sparks in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

A’ja Wilson led topseeded Las Vegas with 19 points. Game 2 is scheduled for Tuesday night.

The WNBA announced earlier Sunday that Aces forward Dearica Hamby won the sixth woman of the year award and Las Vegas general manager Dan Padover received the executive of the year award.

Lynx vs. Storm, postponed: The opener of the semifinal series between fourth-seeded Minnesota and second-seeded Seattle was postponed nearly 90 minutes before its scheduled tipoff because of inconclusive COVID-19 test results for Storm players.

The players with inconclusive results underwent additional testing and were in isolation, according to the WNBA.

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert was at the hotel when she found out about the inconclusive results and boarded the Storm’s bus to let the team know.

“We needed more testing and data,” Engelbert said in a TV interview. “As soon as I talked to them, they were concerned about health and safety.”

The league didn’t immediately announce when Game 1 of the best-of-five series would be played. Game 2 was scheduled for Tuesday night.