Sun cruise to second straight preseason victory

Connecticut’s Courtney Williams (10) had a game-high 18 points in the Sun’s 79-58 exhibition win over Dallas Tuesday.

UNCASVILLE, Conn., May 8 – The Connecticut Sun won for the second time in two days, cruising to a 79-58 win over the Dallas Wings in a WNBA preseason game on Tuesday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena.

“Yesterday, I thought we got out-toughed in a lot of the statistical categories where you look at toughness as part of the game,” Sun coach Curt Miller said of his thoughts about the win over the Los Angeles Sparks on Monday night in the team’s exhibition opener.

“You challenge your players and they stepped up to the challenge tonight against one of the toughest teams in the league, physically (Dallas). They keep going at you. They led the league last year in foul shots and foul shots made. I loved our fight tonight.”

Connecticut’s Courtney Williams was a scorching 9-of-10 from the field for a team-high 18 points with three rebounds and two steals. Jasmine Thomas (12 points, four rebounds), Rachel Banham (10 points) and Morgan Tuck (10 points) also reached double figures for the Sun, who led from start to finish.

Thomas and Williams were a combined 8-of-10 from the field for 20 points in the first quarter as the Sun built a 23-13 lead.

“We’ve always been a really good transition team, sharing the ball, pushing it, and we can only do that if we get stops, deflections and rebounds,” Thomas said. “When we’re doing that, we obviously look good, but we can’t do that all season. We’re still working on being a better half-court execution team, having people in the right spots and being able to run our plays.”

Dallas’ Azura Stevens, the former UConn center, shoots over Connecticut’s Nikki Greene in Tuesday’s WNBA exhibition in Uncasville.

Alyssa Thomas had 12 rebounds and five assists and Alex Bentley hit a three-pointer in her first game back with the team after completing her overseas commitment. Betnijah Laney had eight points off the bench.

Connecticut rested forward Chiney Ogwumike, who had 10 points on Monday night against Los Angeles. That was Ogwumike’s first game back with the Sun after missing all of 2017 with an Achilles injury.

The Sun will close out the preseason Friday at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, hosting the Atlanta Dream at 7 p.m.

New York Liberty rookie Kia Nurse (5) had a game-high 19 points and sank three 3-point goals to lead the Liberty to a 81-75 win over the Los Angeles Sparks in game one of the exhibition doubleheader at the Mohegan Sun Arena on Tuesday.