Seattle hands Connecticut their second straight loss

The Seattle Storm gave the Connecticut Sun a bit of their medicine on Sunday in Seattle.

The Storm erased an 11-point lead and put five players in double figures as Seattle handed the Sun their second straight defeat Sunday with a 72-61 victory. It’s the first time all season that the Sun (13-3) have lost back-to-back games.

Jewell Loyd had 16 points, five assists and five rebounds for Seattle (10-6) while Skylar Diggins-Smith had 13 points and eight assists. Diggins-Smith had a big three-point shot with 2:10 left in the game that ignited the crowd of nearly 10,000 and deflated the Sun.

The Sun had cut the Seattle lead to four points on a three-point shot from DeWanna Bonner with 5:08 remaining in the game. But in the next three minutes, the Sun went 1-for-4 from the floor and turned the ball over twice.

Meanwhile, Seattle went on a 10-2 run to seize control of the contest for good. Nneka Ogwumike had 13 points for Seattle with Ezi Magbegor (11) and Jordan Horston (10) also scoring in double digits.

Alyssa Thomas had 14 points and 14 rebounds for the Sun, and Brionna Jones also scored 14 points. Tyasha Harris added 10 points. Bonner had another tough shooting game with nine points while DiJonai Carrington struggled with just two points on 1-of-7 shooting.

Thomas had a great first quarter for the Sun, scoring eight points, pulling down six rebounds, dishing an assist and getting three steals and a block. The Sun led 14-8 after one quarter.

Connecticut led by as many as 11 points in the second quarter, fueled by their defense that limited Seattle to 27.6 percent shooting in the first half. But Seattle went on an 11-0 run to get themselves back in the game. The Storm led 34-31 at the half. Seattle led 55-48 after three quarters.

The Sun return to action on Thursday night with a game at Washington beginning at 7 p.m.