Breaking down the roster
From Bonner to Carrington, club is ready to make its 2021 return to Mohegan Sun Arena
The Connecticut Sun opened their season on the road against the Atlanta Dream on Friday night with a 78-67. The team returns to Mohegan Sun Arenaon Sunday night for their home opener, the first game in the building since Oct. 8, 2019.
The Sun return most of the 2020 roster, who went 10-12 overall and were ranked second in the East before losing to the Los Vegas Aces in the WNBA semifinals..
With their 11-player roster set on Thursday, including nine returners, one draft pick and one training camp contract signee, here is a look at the 2021 Connecticut Sun:
DeWanna Bonner
Bonner or Superwoman? The forward/guard has played 12 seasons in the WNBA, only missing the 2017 season when she gave birth to her twin girls. She was a two-time WNBA champion with the Phoenix Mercury and a threetime WNBA All-Star and WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year three times in a row from 2009-11. She joined the Sun as a free agent in February 2020.
During the 2020 bubble season, Bonner ranked third in the league in total points, ninth in rebounds, second in free throws made and tied for fifth in steals. She even set a new Sun franchise record for free throws made over a two-game timespan with 23. She was named to the All-WNBA Second Team and to the AP All-WNBA Second Team and named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week twice. She is also in the top 30 for all-time steals in league history with 433.
DiJonai Carrington
Carrington was drafted by the Sun with the 20th overall pick in the 2021 draft. She was coming in hot off the court from Baylor and its run to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament, where the Lady Bears lost to UConn.
As a graduate transfer at Baylor, she averaged 14.1 points and 4.9 points per game. Carrington played at Stanford for four seasons and received a medical hardship due to a knee injury during her senior year after playing just five games. In those five games, she averaged 7.6 points and 5.2 rebounds.
According to longtime women’s basketball reporter Michelle Smith, Carrington has the mettle to add at least a little of the offense, defense and toughness that the Sun will be missing without Alyssa Thomas, who is out with an Achilles tendon injury.
Kaila Charles
This is Charles’ second season with the Sun. In 2020, she averaged 5.4 points and 2.6 rebounds per game. In the offseason, she played overseas for the first time with Israel’s Hapoel Petah Tikva, where she averaged 17.8 points and 10.8 rebounds in 16 games.
The guard, who ranked No. 6 on the University of Maryland’s all-time scoring list only 16 points away from 2,000 in her career, will be joined by former Maryland teammate Stephanie Jones.
Natisha Hiedeman
The guard averaged 6.1 rebounds and 1.9 rebounds and assists in the 2020 season, shooting 35.4% from the field, 35.9% from behind the arc and 70% from the line. In a late September game against the Aces, she scored 14 points in 17 minutes with four 3-point field goals, a career high.
Hiedeman played with the Maccabi Ironi Ramat Gan during the offseason.
Briann January
January recently completed her overseas run with Sopron Basket and joined the team for the first time since the bubble on Thursday. This is the guard’s second season with the Sun after being acquired during the 2020 free agency period — she previously played for the Indiana Fever and the Phoenix Mercury.
She is the most prolific point guard in Fever history and won a WNBA championship in 2012. She has made three trips to the finals in her career and sits 20th all-time in WNBA assists with 1,166. She’s played in 59 postseason games.
January is a four-time first-team defender and a two-time secondteam member (the only player to be named to either team from 201217). She was a 2014 WNBA All-Star, and in 2020, averaged nine points and 3.6 assists per game.
Brionna Jones
Rebounding from a minor ankle injury, Jones had a career season with the Sun in 2020. She finished with two career double-doubles and one playoff career double-double and scored 235 points on 98-of162 field goals, leading the team with a career-high 60.5% from the field and averaging 9.4 points.
In the offseason, she joined Thomas with the USK Praha, where she averaged 15.6 points and 8.1 rebounds in 14 games.
Jonquel Jones
Jonquel Jones opted out of the 2020 season because of COVID-19 concerns. She played for UMMC Ekaterinburg overseas this past offseason and averaged 12.1 points and 7.7 rebounds in 10 games.
In 2019, the forward/center led the league in both total rebounds (330) and blocks (68) and was named a WNBA All-Star. She earned the WNBA Peak Performer Award and was an all-league second-teamer and first-team defender after finishing with an average of 14.6 points and 9.7 rebounds in the regular season and 17.9 points and 10.4 rebounds in the playoffs.
Stephanie Jones
Stephanie Jones will be joining her older sister Brionna on the court this season for the first time since 2016, when they played together for the University of Maryland as a freshman and senior, respectively.
The forward finished her career at Maryland during the 2019-20 season, averaging 11.3 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. She was invited to the Sun’s training camp in late April and played overseas this past offseason with the 1KS Sleza Wroclaw in Poland.
Beatrice Mompremier
Mompremier finished off her career with the University of Miami in 2019 as a redshirt senior and was in the early second round pick in 2020, where she played with the Los Angeles Sparks until June 1. She was released and ultimately picked up by the Sun as a replacement for Jonquel Jones.
The forward played for the CMB Cargo UNI Gyor in the offseason, where she averaged 17 points and 11.7 rebounds across all 25 games.
Alyssa Thomas
Thomas underwent successful surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon in January. There is no timetable for her exact return, and it remains to be seen how head coach Curt Miller will fill the undeniable gap caused by her absence..
The star forward is one of 30 players in WNBA history with at least 2,200 points, 1,300 rebounds and 600 assists. She set an playoff record in 2020 after grabbing 10 offensive rebounds and was named first team all-defense as well as to the All-WNBA second team.
Jasmine Thomas
Jasmine Thomas recently returned after capturing the Turkish League with Fenerbahçe S.K. on Tuesday. She will remain temporarily suspended until she clears the required COVID-19 protocols. The Sun had signed 2021 draft pick Aleah Goodman to a hardship roster spot in her place for the Sun’s opener on Friday.
The guard is going into her fifth year as a member of the Sun.
In 2020, despite missing three games due to heel pain due to plantar fasciitis, she averaged 10.2 points and four assists per game. She sits at eighth all-time in Sun history for points (2,139), seventh for games played (187) and second in assists (858).