The Sun secure a home playoff game

UNCASVILLE — In the last two seasons, WNBA superpowers Minnesota and Los Angeles were the last two teams standing, leaving the other 10 teams in the rear-view mirror.

A constantly maturing Connecticut Sun team was determined to become a championship contender and with a win on Sunday, Connecticut has a chance to do what few teams have been able to accomplish by sweeping the season series against both Minnesota and Los Angeles.

The first step came on Friday with the Sun’s 96-79 win over defending champion Minnesota before a crowd of 7,089 at Mohegan Sun Arena.

Jonquel Jones had 26 points and Alyssa Thomas added 18 as Connecticut completed a sweep of the series against the Lynx and guaranteed itself at least one home game in the playoff. Los Angeles comes to town on Sunday on the final day of the regular season with the Sun having a chance to clinch the No. 4 seed and a first-round playoff bye with a win.

“When I took over this job, we talked about building a franchise and building a culture here,” Connecticut Sun coach Curt Miller said. “We wanted to model ourselves after Minnesota. If we were going to talk about being a champion, we had to talk about the best. If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. We have modeled ourselves after a championship culture, a championship team in the likes of Minnesota.”

The Sun played without Chiney Ogwumike, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder. Ogwumike fell hard late in Tuesday’s win over Dallas and the decision was made to hold her out of the game.

“Just taking it one day at a time, I should be OK,” Ogwumike said. “I am just listening to my body but fortunate that we got the win today. As long as get a little rest, I should be fine to bounce back.”

Ogwumike’s absence was felt especially when Jonquel Jones came out of the game with 4:36 left in the first quarter. Sylvia Fowles scored 10 quick points against reserve forward Brionna Jones.

Fowles picked up her third foul with 4:51 remaining in the first half but any chance the Sun had of capitalizing on Fowles’ absence ended just nine seconds later when Jonquel Jones headed to the bench after being called for her third foul.

Fowles made all eight of her field-goal attempts in the first half when she scored 16 of her 25 points. With the Sun making things more challenging for Fowles and former UConn star Maya Moore managing only two points after halftime, the Sun outscored Minnesota 53-33 in the final two quarters to improve to (20-13).