Sun look to bounce back against Liberty
The good thing about the WNBA's condensed schedule this season — a team doesn't have much time to dwell after a loss.
“Absolutely,” Connecticut Sun Alyssa Thomas said after Thursday night's 99-78 loss to the Las Vegas Aces at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. “Of course, we've got to take away what we didn't do well in this game (into) our next game (against) another team that likes to attack the basket.”
That team that likes to attack the basket is the one-win New York Liberty. Connecticut
plays them tonight at the same site.
The Sun (5-8) had one of those days against Las Vegas. They couldn't stop it from scoring. They couldn't keep it off the free throw line. They turned the ball over too many times in the first half.
"Yeah, things didn't go our way," Thomas said. "It's just one of those days where everything is going right (for your opponent), and we've got to do better next game."
Las Vegas shot 56.2 percent from the floor. It also made 23 of 27 free throws.
Kayla McBride was electric for Las Vegas. She made 9 of 10 field goals and all seven of her free throws for a game-high 25 points. She matched her season-high with 17 points in the first half.
A'ja Wilson had 21 points and seven rebounds and Angel McCoughtry had 13 points, eight rebounds and five assists for the Aces. Danielle Robinson added 15 points and made all nine of her assists in the first half, setting a record for most assists in a half by a reserve.
"We were unable to disrupt them all night," Sun head coach Curt Miller said. "Every stat that you equate to toughness, they really won those areas tonight. We just weren't able to disrupt them. We could never get McBride out of rhythm."
Thomas had 15 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for the Sun and Briann January scored 11 of her 15 points in the first seven minutes of the game.
DeWanna Bonner was the only other Connecticut player to score in double figures (10 points).
Tough Thursday
The Sun turned it over 10 times for 14 points in the first half.
“Disappointed with our turnovers,” Miller said. “We hurt ourselves with turnovers which fueled what was already a productive offensive half for them. We made it even easier with some of live ball turnovers. It's just frustrating when you do that to yourself. It makes it even harder when a team is playing well. No excuses.”
The Sun fouled Las Vegas 18 times through three quarters. That allowed the Aces to take 23 free throws (it made 20), whereas the Sun took just six and trailed, 76-60.
January made back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Sun their largest lead, 23-15, with 3 minutes, 1 second left in the first quarter.
It was all downhill from there for Connecticut. McCoughtry made a layup and 3-pointer on successive possessions to put Las Vegas ahead for good, 32-29, just 1 minute, 29 seconds into the second quarter.
Wilson closed the half with backto-back jumpers to give the Aces a 53-42 edge.
Hamby and McBride made threepoint plays on successive possessions to give the Aces their largest lead, 89-66, with 6:35 remaining in the game.
"It's just a matter of us cleaning up those mistakes and minimizing those unforced errors," January said.
"All that stuff is well in our control, which is promising. I don't think this game shook our confidence because we know that we were the cause of a lot of the mistakes that we made tonight.
"We're going to continue to move forward and get better from this."