Sun whip San Antonio to remain second in Eastern Conference behind Mystics

Connecticut’s Courtney Williams had a career-high 23 points Wednesday night at the Sun whipped San Antonio in WNBA play.

SAN ANTONIO, July 5 — The Connecticut Sun are doing what good teams do against teams who are struggling. They’re winning and they are winning convincingly .

The Sun posted their largest victory of the season in an 89-56 win over the woeful San Antonio Stars Wednesday night for their third straight win and the eighth victory in the last 10 games.  Connecticut (9-7) remains one game behind Eastern Conference leader Washington (10-6).

The Sun host the Mystics on Saturday night at 7 p.m. at the Mohegan Sun Arena in a matchup of the top two teams in the Eastern Conference.

Connecticut outscored San Antonio, 32-15, at one point in the first half to build a 40-24 halftime lead. After the Stars (1-15) scored the first basket of the third quarter, the Sun raced away with a 21-4 surge to blow the game out.

Alyssa Thomas led the Sun with 13 points, eight rebounds, a career-high seven steals and five assists. The seven steals tied a single-game franchise record for steals.

Returning to the sight of her best game as a professional, Connecticut’s Courtney Williams had 13 of her team-high 17 points in the first half. Williams had career highs of 23 points and 10 rebounds on 10-of-11 shooting in an 85-77 victory at San Antonio back on June 3.

Jasmine Thomas had 10 points and eight assists. The sixth-year guard out of Duke posted her 700th career assist during the first half, and also tied her single-season career high by sinking her 35th three-point shot of the season.

Jonquel Jones had eight points and eight rebounds in limited action as Connecticut coach Curt Miller went to the bench early and often.

Rachel Banham came off the bench to score nine points on three made threes while Lynetta Kizer (eight points, five rebounds) had her best outing in the four games since returning from a back injury that forced her to miss five games. Rookie Brionna Jones added seven points while former Stars forward Danielle Adams hit a pair of three-pointers.

Kayla McBride led San Antonio with 12 points. Former UConn standout Moriah Jefferson left the game in the first half with a head contusion. The Stars shot just 34 percent from the floor, turned the ball over 18 times and were outrebounded 44-31.