Sun squander chance to close out Aces
Up 2-1 in its best-of-five WNBA semifinal series against Las Vegas, the opportunity was there for Connecticut to make life a bit simpler.
Win. Close out the topseeded Aces. Start prepping for another appearance in the Finals.
The Sun seemed poised to do that Sunday in Bradenton, Fla., with a chance to build on a one-point halftime lead against a team that, simply put, was running out of time. But Angel McCoughtry had other ideas.
From that point on, it was all a blur to the Sun, as McCoughtry and the Aces stole back the momentum and raced to an 84-75 victory to even the series.
Tied 2-2, the decisive Game 5 will be on Tuesday.
“Elimination games, we’ve been two-for-two this year. We knew this series was not going to be easy. We knew closing it out wasn’t going to be easy,” Sun head coach Curt Miller said. “They’re the No. 1 seed for a reason.”
There are many reasons why, but one was as apparent as any. McCoughtry, a five-time All-Star who was signed away from Atlanta in the offseason, scored 16 of her game-high 29 points in the third quarter and added six assists, five rebounds and three steals. She hit all seven shot attempts during that stretch and helped flip
a 38-37 deficit into a 65-54 lead.
“We know what kind of player Angel is,” Sun point guard Jasmine Thomas said. “She’s always been talented, and she was aggressive tonight. She got down low on us, put pressure on our defense, got into the paint against us, and then her shots started falling.
“When she got into a rhythm, it was hard for us to slow her down. Her teammates fed off of that. You could see the energy kind of shift.”
Add the performances by MVP A’ja Wilson (18 points, 13 rebounds) and Danielle Robinson (18 points) and the Aces had enough punch to withstand the loss of twotime Sixth Woman of the Year Dearica Hamby, who was sidelined with a knee injury.
Thomas led Connecticut (14-14) with 25 points. Alyssa Thomas scored 15 points and DeWanna Bonner chipped in with a doubledouble of 10 points and 15 rebounds.
“They got out in transition a little bit more than we would like,” Miller said, bemoaning his team’s 13 turnovers. “Those are energy plays. Because we weren’t able to string together some stops, you could feel their energy building.”
The Aces (20-6) did most of their damage around the basket, scoring 66 points on twopoint field goals.
“They killed us in the paint,” Bonner said. “That’s how we win, that’s how we get our wins by dominating the paint. Tonight we didn’t do that.”
And now the series lives on.
“We didn’t come out with the energy and effort that we needed to close the series,” Alyssa Thomas said.
DANGERFIELD HEADLINES ALL-ROOKIE TEAM
Former UConn star Crystal Dangerfield has been named to the WNBA All-Rookie Team, the league announced Sunday. Dangerfield, who was selected Rookie of the Year on Sept. 17, was joined on the team by Indiana’s Julie Allemand, Atlanta’s Chennedy Carter, New York’s Jazmine Jones and Dallas’ Satou Sabally.
Drafted 16th overall by Minnesota, Dangerfield averaged 16.2 points and 3.6 assists during the regular season while making 19 starts.