GLAD THAT’S OVER
Little’s jump shot with 8 seconds left lifts Sun to overtime victory, snapping six-game losing streak
Minneapolis — It didn’t matter to the Connecticut Sun that they were playing a short-handed Minnesota Lynx team Wednesday afternoon. No one cares if you’re healthy or not in professional sports and, given that the Sun were on a six-game slide, they just wanted a win. Any win.
Jasmine Thomas’ late 3-pointer forced overtime and Camille Little made a jumper with 8 seconds left, her only points of the game, to give Connecticut a 78-77 overtime win over the league-leading Lynx before a franchise-record 17,414 fans at Target Center.
The Sun are 8-7 headed into this weekend’s WNBA All-Star break.
“Getting a win at this point was huge,” Connecticut coach Anne Donovan said, “especially on the road in overtime with subpar scoring from some of our starters and having some people step up. “Yeah, it’s a relief.” Minnesota (12-4) was without two of its top three players— Seimone Augustus (right knee surgery) and Lindsay Whalen (right eye injury).
“You don’t think about that because we’re missing some of our best players, too,” Donovan said, referencing the loss of five players to injury before the season began.
Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said: “That was a game we should’ve won. You guys will talk about not having Whalen, Seimone and (the recently traded) Monica (Wright) and all that— and that’s nothing to do with it. I don’t want anyone to use that as an excuse.”
Connecticut got a huge lift fromits bench with 41 points. Shekinna Stricklen made three 3-pointers for a game-high 15 points and rookie Elizabeth Williams had a season-high 10 points with five rebounds. Kelly Faris added two 3- pointers and eight points.
“I had told you guys after our 10-day break that the next phrase (of the team) was about getting more production from our bench and if they can help us, and they have,” Donovan said. “Stricklen
len has been the primary one, she and (rookie) Chelsea (Gray). They change the tempo when they get in there.
“Strick has been playing with a lot of confidence and has had the green light (to shoot) since training camp. It’s nice to see that in a game. She’d been doing it in practice, but she just hadn’t gone public with it. It’s nice to see it pay off. … It’s nice to see Elizabeth go in and do what she’s capable of doing. She’s capable of being a presence.”
Bentley scored 12 and Bone added eight points and 10 rebounds. Both were named as Eastern Conference All-Star reserves Tuesday based on voting by WNBA coaches. The game is Saturday at Mohegan Sun Arena (3:30 p.m.)
Moore shouldered the offensive load for the Lynx and scored 25 with eight rebounds and five assists. She shot uncharacteristically poor, however, as she missed 23 of 32 shots and played all 45 minutes.
“Every night my job is the same, so playing more minutes, yeah, but my job is still the same —it’s whatever is called for at any moment of the game,” Moore said.
Rebekkah Brunson had 14 points, 15 rebounds and three steals for Minnesota and reserve Devereaux Peters added 12 points and seven rebounds.
Thomas' 3-pointer with 1.7 seconds left in regulation tied the game at 69 to force overtime. She added another when the Sun closed the game on a 7-2 run.
“It’s a big relief (to win),” said Thomas (9 rebounds, 4 assists). “I feel like everyone’s in a good place and everyone needs rest. Unfortunately our people who play the most minutes won’t get to rest (Alex Bentley and Kelsey Bone), but we’re happy to see them in the All-Star Game.”