Sun top defending champion Lynx

UNCASVILLE >> Three and a half months ago the WNBA sent out a release with the results of a poll of the league’s general managers.

Elena Delle Donne earned half of the votes to repeat as WNBA Most Valuable Player, former UConn stars Diana Taurasi was named the best guard and Breanna Stewart the selection to be the Rookie of the Year.

It would be curious to see the results if the general managers were polled on the chance that the rebuilding Connecticut Sun would win the first two games in the season series against defending WNBA champion Minnesota.

That is exactly what happened as Alyssa Thomas’ 15 points led six players in double figures in the Sun’s 84-80 win over Minnesota before a crowd at 7,381 at Mohegan Sun Arena.

Connecticut led by 15 points in the first half before Minnesota answered back and regained the lead late in the third quarter on a three-point play by former UConn star Renee Montgomery. When Keisha Hampton and Natasha Howard opened the fourth quarter with back to back baskets in the lane, Minnesota suddenly led by five.

Connecticut fought all the way back and veteran guard Jasmine Thomas gave the Sun the lead for good with a jumper with 51.2 seconds remaining.

First-year Sun coach Curt Miller pointed to how that possession played out as a perfect example about how much the team has matured.

“We tried to get Alyssa Thomas the ball and they guarded it well,” Miller said. “We continued to play, got some screening action for Jaz and she made a very difficult pullup jumper considering the time and score situation. If we wouldn’t have gotten our first option early in the season, we would have stopped and play 1 on 1 basketball. Tonight we continued with the play and as difficult as the shot that Jaz made, it was part of the play.”

Minnesota didn’t score for the final 1:12 even though the Lynx have four members of the gold-medal winning U.S. Olympic team on the roster.

Former UConn star Maya Moore was joined by fellow gold medalists Sylvia Fowles, Seimone Augustus and Lindsay Whalen in receiving a huge hand from the crowd during a ceremony before the game. However, down the stretch it was not the members of the star-studded Lynx who were drawing the applause from the fans.

All five starters scored in double figures for the Sun as Bentley and Jasmine Thomas had 12 points, Chiney Ogwumike finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds, Camille Little had 10 points including a key 3-pointer in the fourth quarter while Courtney Williams added 12 points off the bench as the Sun improved to 9-16.

“With our confidence, with buying into everything and believing that we can make a playoff run and we can do great things in this league,” Jasmine Thomas said.

Fowles and Whalen had 16 points each, Augustus had 11 points and Moore had eight points and three assists for Minnesota (21-5).

This was the first game in more than a month as the league took a break for the Olympics. With no Sun players in the Olympics, Connecticut was able to get work done. Minnesota’s four Olympians were likely dealing with a bit of fatigue after returning from Rio.

“They were probably tired,” Miller said. “They are a very talented team and some people might think we caught them at a good time but don’t take anything away those players in our locker room because they played their guts out.