Brionna Jones had 18 points in Friday night’s loss to Las Vegas.
A year ago, the Connecticut Sun were the third-best team in the WNBA behind the champion Las Vegas Aces and WNBA finalist New York Liberty.
Fifteen games into the 2024 season, the Sun are clearly still the third-best team in the WNBA. They’ve shown they can handle everyone except for Las Vegas and New York.
The two-time defending WNBA champion Aces showed they won’t be easily swept aside in an 85-74 win over the Sun on Friday night before a sellout crowd of 10,385 at Michelob Arena in Las Vegas.
While a healthy Brionna Jones gives Connecticut more offensive firepower than they did a year ago, Las Vegas is still overwhelming at this point of the season.
Las Vegas’ A’ja Wilson was fantastic on Friday night with 26 points and a season-high 16 rebounds. Kelsey Plum scored 18 points while Alysha Clark came off the bench to score 11, including 3-of-5 from three-point range.
“She did hit some tough shots. She was a beast on the glass. She got herself to the foul line. But again, like, you’re not going to stop great players,” Sun coach Stephanie White said of Wilson. “You just want to make it as difficult as possible for them. And she just stepped up.”
The Aces pounded the Sun on the glass with a 42-32 edge pulling down rebounds. In the second quarter, the Sun managed just three field goals while the Aces sank 10. A four-point deficit for the Sun after one quarter swelled to an 18-point deficit at the half.
Connecticut (13-2) had an early 13-9 lead in the first quarter and it was tied 16-16 with 1:31 left in the opening quarter thanks to 11 points in the paint from Brionna Jones. But the Sun couldn’t continue it nor stop the Aces.
Jones finished with 18 points while DiJonai Carrington finished with a team-high 19 points, mainly in the second half. Carrington struggled to finish baskets in the lane, going 1-for-8 in the first half and 4-for-7 in the second half.
DeWanna Bonner had a rough shooting night, scoring six points on 2-of-10 shooting from the floor. Alyssa Thomas also had six points while Ty Harris had nine points.
“I didn’t feel like we played our best game. I felt like in the second half, we were better,” White said. “Our defense always gives us a chance. We really struggled on the offensive end. Struggled at times finishing plays defensively, but more than anything (struggled with our) pace and execution offensively. And then when we got opportunities, whether it was at the foul line or when we making a run, (there were) turnovers or miss free throws and those just kill momentum.”
The game was tied at 16 with a minute left in the first quarter when Jackie Young sank three free throws and Clark scored in transition to give Las Vegas a 20-16 lead.
Thomas opened the second quarter with a drive to the basket only to see Las Vegas score eight of the next nine points with Clark hitting a jumper, draining a three-point shot and Plum sinking a three-point shot for a 28-19 lead.
Thomas sank one of two free throws with 7:40 remaining in the half and drove to the basket with a one-handed shot over Clark with 6:55 remaining. Thomas was fouled and completed the three-point play to cut the Vegas lead to five, 28-23.
But Connecticut sank just two field goals in the final 6:55 of the quarter and saw Vegas go on a 20-7 run to take a 48-30 halftime lead. Wilson had eight of the 20 points for the Aces.
Connecticut cut the lead to seven midway through the third quarter, 54-47, thanks to a jumper from Ty Harris, Jones scoring in the lane off a nice dish from Thomas and Carrington getting a steal and a layup.
The lead was still seven after Jones completed a three-point play in the lane with 2:34 remaining. But Vegas scored the next 10 points of the game to reassert control.
The Sun return to action on Sunday with game two of their three-game road trip in Seattle beginning at 3 p.m., EST and at noon in the arena.
Las Vegas has won eight of the last 11 games between the two teams. The Sun were 1-2 against the Aces a year ago and 2-5 in 2022 when they lost to the Aces in the WNBA finals.
Las Vegas 85, Connecticut 74
At Las Vegas
Connecticut (74) Bonner 2-10 1-3 6, Thomas 2-6 2-3 6, Jones 8-12 2-3 18, Carrington 5-15 7-8 19, Harris 4-7 0-0 9, Mitchell 0-3 2-4 2, Banham 1-2 0-0 3, Nelson Ododa 1-3 0-0, Burton 0-0 2-4 2, Ndour-Fall 3-3 0-0, 7. Totals 26-61 16-25 17-23
Las Vegas (85) Young 3-8 2-3 8, Wilson 9-17 8-8 26, Stokes 3-5 1-1 7, Plum 6-14 3-3 18, Hayes 2-4 0-0 4, Clark 4-6 0-0 11, Gray 1-6, 2-4 4, Gustafson 2-2 1-2 5, Martin 1-2 0-0 2, Colson 0-1 0-0 0, Carter 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 31-65
Connecticut (13-2) 16 12 22 24 — 74
Las Vegas (8-6) 20 25 18 22 — 85
Three-point shots: Connecticut 6-13 (Bonner 1-4, Carrington 2-4, Harris 1-1, Mitchell 0-1, Banham 1-2, Ndour-Fall 1-1; Las Vegas 6-24 (Young 0-3, Wilson 0-2, Stokes 0-2, Plum 3-8, Hayes 0-1, Clark 3-5, Gray 0-1, Martin 0-1, Colson 0-1)
