This is the Sun we came to know
Tuck (15 points) leads Connecticut past Minnesota
Minneapolis — It's hard to remember what the Connecticut Sun looked like before a combination of injuries, absences, inconsistency and road games derailed them.
Under- standably so.
Connecticut more than showed what it was capable of Sunday for those who might have forgotten.
The Sun used a dominant second half to hand the defending WNBA champion Minnesota Lynx their worst loss of the season 83-64 before 9,234 at the Target Center.
“This environment is always tough to play in,” said Connecticut's Rachel Banham, who celebrated her 25th birthday in her home state. “We knew that we had to be really ready, so we just brought the energy from the jump.”
The Sun (12-10) led for over three quarters. Banham's 11-foot pull-up jumper gave them their largest lead, 82-51 with 5 minutes, 26 seconds left in the game.
Now this was what Connecticut looked like prior to its 28 days in a funk when it lost nine out of 12 games. The Sun have since beaten second-place Phoenix (91-87) and the defend-
ing champion Lynx in three days.
“Our bench gave us a lot of really good points (48) and gave us really good energy,” Connecticut coach Curt Miller said. “(They) gave us a lead (in the first quarter) and confidence and then we broke it open.”
Connecticut won the three-game season series against Minnesota with one game left at Mohegan Sun Arena (Aug. 17). It was the fourth loss in six games for the Lynx (12-10).
Six players scored in double figures for the Sun with reserve Morgan Tuck leading the way. She came off the bench and made four of six 3-pointers for a game-high 15 points with four rebounds.
“I think the way we played the way we did as a team, it's easy for everyone to get something,” Tuck said.
Connecticut center Jonquel Jones, in her second game since being moved to the bench, scored 12. Banham made her first three shots during the first half, all 3-pointers. She scored 11.
Starters Jasmine Thomas (11 points, four assists, four rebounds, two steals), Courtney Williams (10 points), and Shekinna Stricklen (10 points, four rebounds) were the Sun's other double-digit scorers.
Connecticut made 12 of 25 3-pointers. It also beat the Lynx on the boards 41-27.
It helped the Sun that Minnesota's Rebekkah Brunson missed her third straight game (strained right thigh). She began the day as the league's eighth-leading rebounder (7.3). She also set the WNBA career-record for rebounds on July 5 and has 3,325.
“Brunson is such a big part on both ends of the floor (for Minnesota),” Miller said. “It allowed us to try some different things and you kind of had momentum build as some of the stuff that we wanted to try started to work.”
Connecticut's Williams, at 5-foot-8, tied Minnesota center Sylvia Fowles (6-6) with a game-high eight rebounds. Fowles, the 2017 WNBA MVP and Finals MVP, averaged a league-high 12 rebounds prior to Sunday.
“It was embarrassing,” Lynx star Maya Moore said. “We're supposed to be the best defensive (rebounding) team. Hats off to the effort and persistence that Connecticut showed for the o-boards and it stings.”
Fowles (12 points) was the only Minnesota player to score in double figures.
It also helped that Moore had a rare off-night shooting. She missed nine of 11 shots and scored five points.
Banham made back-to-back 3-pointers to break a tie and put Connecticut ahead to stay 24-18 with 24.9 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Sun put Minnesota down in the third quarter with Stricklen making 3-pointers to start and end a 12-4 run. It gave Connecticut a 56-39 lead with 4:22 left in the period.
Tuck went on a 9-0 run to end the third and start the fourth. The last of her three straight 3-pointers pushed the Sun's edge to 73-48 with 9:06 left.