Sun still finding a way to wing it
Williams’ charge gives Connecticut a burst of energy down the stretch
Mohegan — Courtney Williams is pretty energetic. Chalk some of that up to youth (she's just three months past 23 years old). Chalk the rest of it up to her being 40 gallons of Red Bull stuffed into a 5-foot-8 body.
Williams was a little more animated after taking a charge with over six minutes left in Wednesday's 93-87 win over the Dallas Wings before 6,465 at Mohegan Sun Arena.
Williams sprung off the floor, raced over to Sun assistant Nicki Collen and tried to give her a hug, then celebrated some more.
"She challenged us," Williams smiled. "She said (near) the end of the game that whoever takes a charge, she's going to give us $200. So money motivated me."
Told that she seemed pretty excited at the time, Williams asked, "$200 is not exciting? (It's) exciting. That is so exciting."
The Sun (20-10) needed a little extra motivation as they're a big gassed right now. It's understandable given that Wednesday was their fourth game in nine days. It showed at times against frenetic Dallas Connecticut was a step slow on defense or unable to grab a rebound or loose ball.
Williams didn't have a good night, but she provided a quick burst when needed. Connecticut was trying to shake the Wings when Williams fired a pass in transition to Morgan Tuck for a layup and followed with a layup of
her own.
Williams drew a charge on Kayla Thornton moments later. She added a pass to Alyssa Thomas in transition to push Connecticut's lead to 79-68 with 5:33 remaining.
Williams missed 7 of her 11 shots and scored nine with five assists and five rebounds.
"She certainly did not play like she's capable of," Sun coach Curt Miller said. "I think I must have heard (Collen) tell her at least 10 times that she was better than what she was playing. But to that kid's credit, she never loses confidence.
"I love coaching that kid because she always thinks she's going to make the big play."
The Sun reached 20 wins for the sixth time in 19 seasons. It's their first 20-win season since 2012, which was followed by four seasons of "ick."
Connecticut can finish no worse than fifth place in the overall WNBA standings. It's presently in third place with a two-game lead over the New York Liberty (18-12) and a 2 1/2-game lead over the Washington Mystics (17-12).
New York plays at Washington on Friday. The Sun play at Washington next Tuesday.
The top two seeds in the playoffs receive a bye to the semifinals. The third and fourth seeds get a first-round bye.
Connecticut would really love to get a bye and extra rest, but has to push through fatigue to do so.
"It's a sliding scale of wanting to win games, but also wanting to save yourself for the playoffs," the Sun's Jonquel Jones said. "We want to keep on winning ballgames and just be smart about it and know the big games are coming up soon. Even though these ones are big, the bigger ones are coming up."
Jones had 20 points and 17 rebounds and Jasmine Thomas had 17 points and four assists. Shekinna Stricklen added 14 points and four rebounds.
Alyssa Thomas, in particular, was a warrior for Connecticut. She played 37 minutes and had 23 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
"She brought the toughness and passion and energy in the first half," Miller said. "If it wasn't for her, I didn't know where we were going to get it from. She was a bulldozer."
Theresa Plaisance had 17 points and seven rebounds for Dallas (14-17). The Wings were without starting post Glory Johnson, who was serving a one-game suspension for throwing a punch in a game last Saturday.
"That was gritty," Miller said of the win. "(Dallas has) only played one time in the last 11 days. … These are the games in the WNBA that you typically don't find a way to the finish line.
"We found a way to win. That's a huge win." n.griffen@theday.com