< The Connecticut Sun,
Alyssa Thomas provides the power as Sun tops Phoenix; Connecticut to play at Indiana today
coming off a win over the Phoenix Mercury, travel to meet the Indiana Fever on Sunday afternoon.
Mohegan — Alyssa Thomas' Connecticut Sun teammates call her “AT.”
Most nights, Thomas is more like an ATV. They're not flashy. They're made to work hard and get dirty.
Connecticut needed everything it could get out of Thomas to both beat the Phoenix Mercury late Friday night and pull itself out of a fivegame losing streak, and the engine that runs the team pulled through for it.
Thomas played almost the entire second half and scored 16 of her team-high 20 during that stretch as the Sun won 79-64 in the season debut for Phoenix's Diana Taurasi before 6,864 on Pride Night at Mohegan Sun Arena.
Thomas played 18 minutes, 39 seconds during the second half and made 6 of 7 shots. She also scrapped to finish with 10 rebounds, including four offensive, and a game-high three steals.
“AT, she went crazy,” Connecticut's Courtney Williams said. “She's a dog. She's a dog, man. That's what she does.”
The Sun (10-6) play at the Indiana Fever on Sunday afternoon (4, Bankers Life Fieldhouse, NESN).
Jasmine Thomas played all but 43 seconds in the second half for Connecticut on Friday. She finished with 11 points, eight assists and five rebounds in 36:44.
The Sun had six players score in double figures and three finished with a double-double — Jonquel Jones (13 points, 11 rebounds), Williams (10 points, 10 rebounds) and Alyssa Thomas.
It was just the third time in franchise history that Connecticut had three players record a double-double in a game. Jasmine and Alyssa Thomas and Chiney Ogwumike each had a double-double in an 87-78 win over the Washington Mystics on Sept. 18, 2016.
Reserve Bria Holmes also gave the Sun a lift by scoring six of her 10 points in the second half.
Connecticut traded for Holmes last season even though she was going to miss it due to her pregnancy.
"I told Bria, 'that's the Bria that we traded for two years ago,'" Sun coach Curt Miller said. "Every game we see it more and more, the Bri that we saw in Atlanta her rookie year and second year . ... You see the explosiveness and her ability to get to the rim."
Shekinna Stricklen scored 11 for Connecticut.
DeWanna Bonner had 20 points and eight rebounds for Phoenix (77). Brittney Griner (10 points) was the only other Mercury player to score in double figures. She averaged a league-leading 20 points per game prior to Friday.
“They went to another level (in the second half) and we didn't,” Phoenix coach Sandy Brondello said. “We just didn't handle their physicality at all. We were very soft and just laid an egg.”
Taurasi, who needed back surgery in April, played just 16 minutes. She missed all four of her shots and scored five.
Connecticut couldn't make a shot early as it missed 15 of its first 18. It trailed at the half 36-30.
The Sun opened the third quarter with a 20-1 run to go ahead 50-37 with 3:13 left in the period. Thomas scored seven during that run with four rebounds and a steal.
Phoenix cut its deficit to 57-54 with 8:33 left in the game. Thomas answered with a three-point play to spark a 16-4 run.
“We liked our shots we were getting in the first quarter,” Miller said. “We just weren't rewarding ourselves. My staff (assistants Brandi Poole and Chris Koclanes) just did a tremendous job of continuing to tell them that those shots are going to fall and believe it.
“We liked what we were doing offensively. We were moving them and those shots are going to fall and they needed to hear that positivity from my staff because that's not always how I'm wired.” n.griffen@theday.com