Jones helps Liberty top Sun to knot up East standings

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Breanna Stewart scored 24 points, Jonquel Jones added 14 points and 11 rebounds in her return to Connecticut and the Liberty beat the Sun 89-81 on Tuesday night.

The victory moved the Liberty into a tie with Connecticut atop the Commissioner Cup standings in the Eastern Conference. Each team has one game left although the Liberty have the tiebreaker because they have swept the two games against the Sun.

Las Vegas has already wrapped up the Western Conference slot.

Alyssa Thomas led Connecticut (12-4) with 11 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds for her fifth career triple-double. The all-time record holder, Thomas has triple-doubles in consecutive games and three times in the last seven days. DiJonai Carrington scored a career-high 23 points to lead the Sun.

The Liberty (10-3) led 80-68 with 6:26 left before Connecticut (12-4) scored 13 straight points, the last of which came on a contested layup by Thomas with 3:39 left. That was her 11th point and gave her the tripledouble. It also gave the Sun their first lead since the first half.

That was the final point they scored as the Liberty closed with nine straight points. Courtney Vandersloot hit two free throws and Betnijah Laney added a 3-pointer that made it 85-81. Kayla Thornton followed with a runner in the lane with 40.4 seconds remaining. The Sun missed eight straight shots over the final 3 ¹/₂ minutes.

Carrington gave the Sun a chance to even be in the game, scoring 17 of her points in the second half.

The game served as a homecoming for Jones, who played six season in Connecticut before she was traded to the Liberty in the offseason. Jones won the WNBA MVP in 2021 and helped the Sun reach the finals twice, including last year. The Sun played a tribute video to Jones a few minutes before tipoff and she got a warm ovation from the crowd.

Jones got the first basket in a fastpaced first quarter. The Liberty scored the final eight points of the half to go up 47-43 at the break.